The Auspice
by jenna-marie92
Summary: Adalia's family was killed by a vampire 7 years ago, and shes been haunted by the event ever since. What happens when the cullens move into town and she falls for one of them? There's more to these characters stories than meets the eye. Give this a chance
1. Prologue

"Mom!?" I screamed out, my heart about to beat out of my chest. "Lily!?" "Oliver!?"

I screeched out my family members names, scrambling through the pitch black forest. There were no answers from either of them. My legs were struggling to push myself forward as I tripped through the path over fallen tree branches, scraping my knees. I felt like I was going to hyperventilate, I had no idea what was going on and that made me more spastic every second.

Suddenly, I heard a terrified scream from further into the forest. It was Lily, my baby sister. I began trembling, holding onto anything I could to keep myself from falling over. I tried to scream out Lily's name, but all that came out was a quiet, strangled version of what I had intended to screech at the top of my lungs. Then there was another short ear piercing scream that quickly broke off into dead silence. Something was happening; my sister was in trouble. My whole family was in trouble. I couldn't bring myself to think of what that last scream could have meant.

This was surely becoming the worst family camping trip in existence.

Then I ran, without even thinking, toward the sound. I had to be there, for my family. I had to know what was going on. When I finally reached where the sounds were coming from, I was frozen in place. My sister's dead body lay on the ground in the middle of a small clearing; bleeding and broken. My hand shot up to my mouth in an effort to stop the loud cry of pain that was about to escape. I collapsed to the ground in anguish, a stream beginning to run down from my eyes.

I heard a familiar voice shout. "No! Oliver run!" the voice demanded. It was my mother. I blinked furiously to clear my eyes so I could see, attempting to stand back up. She was talking to my older brother by two years, Oliver. They exchanged horrified glances, and he looked reluctant to leave her. She motioned for him to run away, pleading with her eyes for him to leave. "Please", she whisper cried desperately, fear in her eyes. Pained, he began to turn, and dashed off into the trees, disappearing into the darkness.

A few seconds later, I saw what my mother was directing my brother away from; what had killed my sister. I was hiding behind a tree, where I couldn't be seen, but I had a clear view. A tall man, from what it looked like, came out into my view, but he was no ordinary man. He was very pale, with dark brown hair contrasting his pale face. He looked like he could have been from Italy or Spain, and his eyes were a deep, frightening pitch black color.

Following above him in the sky, a front of dark clouds rolled quickly over us. Lightning lit up the sky and thunder roared and echoed through the clearing, while rain began to pour with a violent gust of wind. The mysterious man laughed, and looked from my mother up to the clouds and back. She pursed her lips and groaned, understanding what he was telling her with his actions. I didn't understand, and I had a vague feeling that I was missing something here, that there was a story behind all this. The storm began to calm a bit, and was just background noise around the scene. His dark brown hair flowed into his face, as he threatened to my mother with a heavy Spanish accent, "They won't be able to run away, I'll find them. And I can't simply ignore their presence here, they've seen too much...."

His eyes quickly flickered toward me, and my heart beat accelerated, as I ducked down afraid I'd been spotted. _Does he know I'm here? _I thought, feeling the anxiety starting to kick in. I looked back to my mother, who stiffened and was glaring at him. She didn't let any of her fear show through, despite this terrible situation we were in. She was a strong person. "I'm willing to bet you're wrong about them" she told him confidently. "Well..." he looked up, and chuckled; "I guess we'll just have to see, I wouldn't put any bets on them though, if I were you." She grimaced at him, "You disgust me", she spit out at him. "You're a monster, and that's all that you'll ever be. You will exist and die as a monster, and nothing more."

"That's interesting, funny I already knew that, and I am quite content with it actually, and quite frankly, it's actually enjoyable being a monster. I have more power this way." he told her, happy with himself, with a matter of fact expression. "You know, your plans will never work. Trust me on that. I think you know very well how accurate I am on these things." he looked very annoyed by how sure she was. I was definitely missing something here.

Finally, he looked angered by her words, and my mother showed a wide, smug smile, clearly happy for her victory. He stared at her with his eyes burning with such deep hatred that it, if it were me under his gaze, could have burned a hole straight through me. Then in only seconds, my mother screamed and was thrown into a tree with a loud crash. There was a loud snap from her neck, and then her body was limp and lifeless as it fell to the ground. The man leaned over her, parting his lips, as if to kiss her. He rested his mouth over her neck, parted his teeth, and sunk them into her.

I could hear sickening sucking noises that made me feel like I was going to vomit. The color left my face, leaving me as pale as the man sucking the life from mother right in front of me. I was frozen in the cold night, and felt numb. Another stream flowed down my face. My mother was being killed, and all I could do is stand and watch from the sidelines of this painful and utterly disturbing scene. My life with my loving, strong, and caring mother flashed before my eyes, as I realized this was the last time I'd ever see her again.

Words couldn't even describe the anguish I was feeling. I felt like I should have run out between my mom and the man in a desperate attempt to save her, but my legs were frozen to the ground whenever I even slightly leaned in their direction. I knew I couldn't do anything, I was weak. I wanted to wake up. This all had to have been a terrible bad dream that I was going to wake up from. There was no way this could be happening. I couldn't watch this anymore. Tears still flooding my eyes, I quietly walked away. I had to try and find my brother, who was still out there.

The rain soaked me from head to toe, and I'm sure I looked like a wet muddy dog. Once I got far enough away I broke into a sprint, searching. I heard branches snapping to my right and looked toward the sounds, still sprinting. Suddenly, I crashed into something, or someone. I fell back with a bang, my head hurting from the collision. "Ow" I heard someone mutter. I looked up, to find my brother sitting up on the ground rubbing his head. He looked like a mess; he clearly was taking this just as badly as I was.

"Oli!" I screamed, reaching over to pull him into an obnoxious hug. He hugged back, quietly whimpering in agony, and relieved at the same time. "Adalia, thank god. I thought I'd lose you too" he said sadly, choking on the last words. He pulled away, holding my shoulders and looked into my eyes. "We're going to get through this" he said, convinced this was definitely the case. "We're going to get out of this..." he repeated, but this time not as sure, and was attempting to convince himself as well.

I blurted out all of the questions I have been fabricating in my head, "What was that? Did you see anything back there? That thing that..." I cringed thinking of what had happened. I couldn't finish the sentence. He quickly answered, "I don't know, and yes, I seen it. Whatever it is, it's coming back, for _us_ this time. We need to ---" Abruptly, someone launched in front of us and grabbed Oliver right off the ground, pinning him to the ground a few feet away.

There were stones and large twigs all over the ground next to me. I knew I had to do something... anything. I acted quickly, without even thinking, and picked up the largest stone. I stood up, while the man that had killed my mom and sister was still pinning my brother to the tree, muttering something I could not hear into his ear.

I lifted the largest stone I had, and threw it as hard as I could at the back of the man's head. It didn't do any damage, as I had expected, but it did get his attention. He paused, startled by my action, and slowly turned his head around to glare at me.

I froze, and I couldn't breathe. His gaze was so hateful, it made my heart beat stutter and I got the chills. "Excuse me?" He asked in a threatening and agitated, but polite tone, a crack of lightning streaking dangerously close to us in the sky above us. I was speechless; I didn't know what to say. I hadn't planned this part. I just stood there motionless, thinking something up. "Uh… uhhh" I stuttered.

He looked at me with the same threatening expression, but cocked his head to the side, curiously. "Yes?" He asked me, letting go of his grasp on Oliver, standing up and turning his whole body to face me. He walked toward me a few steps. "I'm very... curious as to what you were hoping to accomplish with your little stunt there" He stared at me. "uh..uhhh" I repeated. "Spit it out, now" he snapped, frustrated and impatient now, but it almost sounding like a threat.

I glanced over to Oliver, who stared back and forth between me and the man, with a terrified, nervous expression. "Why?" I asked. He was about to ask me to clarify, but I continued. "I mean, why are you doing this? I'm sure you've already gotten enough of whatever you were hoping to get from destroying our family here tonight, why can't you just let us go?" I said, glancing at Oliver, begging him with my eyes to do something to help us.

"Don't you have even the slightest bit of mercy in you at all? You could just let us leave, right now, and we'd never tell a soul.... please." I begged pleadingly. I was desperate. The man chortled, and chuckled in amusement, but something underneath his amusement made chills once again run down my spine. "Oh, but that's where you're wrong. I haven't gotten _everything_ I want yet." He smiled brilliantly, showing his blood stained teeth as I grimaced. "Also, how could I possibly believe two children that they'd 'never tell a soul'? That seems awfully unrealistic to me."

Oliver bent down and slowly picked up a large branch. He continued, "oh, and no, I have no mercy" he said devilishly. He turned back towards Oliver, who was now raising the branch like a baseball bat about to strike. The man chuckled again, but this time even more intimidating, and my brother's eyes widened in horror. "You two were trying to kill me?" he asked. We both just stared with our eyes wide.

"That's very brave, I must say... but also very, very foolish of you both. I'm much better at killing than you, and I'm a hunter by nature. Neither of you will escape me, in the end, I can promise you that." He looked back at Oliver and looked like he was concentrating on something. With no physical force visibly doing so, the branch flew out of Oliver's hands, crashing into a nearby tree.

Did the man just do that? How was that possible? Suddenly, before I could see it happening, he was holding me up in the air, his large hands tightly and firmly grasping my throat. I reached my own hands to his, attempting to rip them off my throat, choking and searching for some way to breathe. His hands were cold as ice, and hard as rock. He lifted me so high by only my neck with no effort, as if I weighed nothing. He was also very tall. "What _are_ you?" I demanded, choking out the words when I was able to get some air.

"Something that you only thought was in your nightmares" he answered, another flash of lightning lighting up the sky, and I could see his devilish grin. I glared into his eyes, and then my eyes widened in a mixture of fear and shock at the bizarre red color of his eyes. I hadn't noticed it before now. He leaned in towards me a little, and I cringed expecting to share the same fate as my mother had. Instead, he sniffed my hair and tilted his head, his facial expression growing confused. A little bit away, I saw the silhouette of a couple other people, one small (my size) and one taller figure moving towards us growling fiercely.

The man released me from his hold, as he held his hands out in the same position it was in when I was in his grasp, staring at them in terror. His body glazed over in ice, and he resembled an ice carving. When I landed on the cold hard ground from the height, I hit my head on something hard, and then everything faded to black.


	2. Images

So, I've been spending the last month and half on this story. Mostly because I'm a perfectionist and didn't want to half-ass it. Please, if you have the time, tell me if this a waste of time or a perfectly good use of it. I put a lot of effort into this, and there's a lot of different twists in the plot that are different from other stories on here I think. Please review with your thoughts.

* * *

October 2014  
**Present Day  
October 2014**

_"Neither of you will escape me, in the end, I can promise you that..." the mysterious man from my darkest memories and nightmares threatened.  
Images of my mother and sisters broken bodies on the forest floor flashed through my mind. "What_are_you?" I choked out, terror covering my words.  
"Something you thought was only in your nightmares," he answered.  
Suddenly, I was crashing into the ground, my head colliding with a rock.  
I felt dizzy, but I could still see the mysterious creature leaning over me, parting his teeth and lowering his mouth to my neck like he did my mother...  
_--------

I woke up to the sound of someone screaming, my heart beat racing and my palms and neck sweaty. Sitting up, I realized that all the screaming was coming from me. My father quietly peaked into my room to check on me and see what all the commotion was about. "Adalia? Are you alright?" he asked me, worried.  
"I'm fine," I answered, "Just another nightmare." My small alto voice reassured him. His eyes narrowed questioningly at my answer. "I'm fine, really, dad. Please, don't worry about it" I told him. He sighed and frowned, and with that he slid back through the opened door. I sighed as I slipped back under my covers to go back to sleep.

Then my nightmares all flooded into my mind at once. These nightmares have been reoccurring almost every night, and I couldn't escape them. My deepest, darkest memories of the night the mysterious creature had taken my entire family, with the exception of my father, away from me forever. The night he ripped them all out of my life in the most unimaginably painful and traumatizing way possible.

The fear that he would come back and find me like he promised so long ago, or worse: find my dad before he found me. He couldn't be brought into this mess.

All that was left of my family was my dad and I, and for that I'm eternally grateful. I'm not sure what I would have done without him, or what he would have done without me. I was the only one in his family who had come out of that camping trip alive, and if I hadn't it would have destroyed him. If he shared the same fate as they did, it would destroy me, also.

To this day, I still don't understand or know what had to have occurred to keep that man from killing me along with my other family members. I was only 10 years old when my mother, sister, brother and I were taking a family camping trip down near Manzanita, Oregon. My dad took a rain check on that, though, and bailed out on coming along with us.

He wanted to stay and catch up on some work. For that, however, he's never quite forgiven himself. He's beaten himself up over that for years ever since the incident, wishing he came along, or did anything in his power to stop it from happening. He always told himself that he was at fault for the situation.

I've done everything in my own power to convince him otherwise, but it was only inevitable that it wouldn't have any effect on him. I wished more than anything that he wouldn't blame himself, it was obviously not his fault. Sometimes I also wish I was alone on this, that I was the only one affected by this and that he wasn't here sharing the years of misery with me. It just wasn't fair to him.

I also wish more than anything that I could have done something to help all of them that night while I was there. I suppose that I got all of this from my father though, in that way I was exactly like him. Blaming myself for things and being stubborn about it. Although we have been sharing this agony over the years, we've also shared an undeniable father-daughter bond that I couldn't be any happier for.

After _that night_, as we call it, and several unsuccessful search parties later, my dad and I decided to stay in our family's hometown, Rainier, Oregon. While most people would more than likely move away in our situation to escape the pain and memories, we stayed for just this reason, to _keep_ the memories of our loved ones. We figured it'd be less painful and more of a tribute to them if we didn't run away from everything that reminded us of them.

Rainier is a very small town, with a population of a little less than 2,000 people. Everyone knows everyone around here. Also, just like the name, 'rainier', ironically enough, the town is extremely rainy. There's no possible way to escape the greenery that surrounds you here.

Not that I'm complaining, I've always loved it, it's all very beautiful. Having lived here my whole life, I've grown used to the rainy tendencies of this town.

Suddenly, my alarm clock began playing, interrupting me and my reverie. I groaned, pulling myself up out of bed reluctantly. I've always despised waking up early, and I've never in my 16 and a half years particularly been what you'd call a morning person. I could even sleep in past noon on a regular basis if my dad didn't drag me out of bed on the weekend and I didn't have be at my _beloved_ high school every morning at 7 AM.

Groggily and half asleep, I walked down the hall to the bathroom to take a shower. The house was pretty nice compared to the others in this small town, because it's been in our family for generations. It's actually rather large for just my dad and I though; we didn't really need all of that space. We just didn't see selling that house, though, with all the old memories it held. We felt like leaving this house and life here behind would be leaving our deceased family members, and they'd disappear along with it.

About 20 minutes later, I came back to my room more awake than before to finish getting ready for yet another day in my own personal hell, Rainier High School. Even since elementary school, I've either been that invisible girl or involuntarily infamous. It's always been some of my worst experiences in life next to the undebatable number one worst, _that night_.

School should be a form of cruel and unusual punishment.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

After blow drying my vibrant deep red hair, I began styling it. My hair color is pretty indefinable, it's my natural hair color yet the color is so deep and vibrant you'd expect to only find it inside a box in the hair color aisle. I'm not sure what you'd call the color exactly, but I've decided it's something like deep cherry red, crayola red, intense red copper or rich auburn blond colored.

I started straightening the abundance of choppy short layers cascading and thinning to an end a little past my shoulders. I pushed my side bangs across my forehead, hovering over my eyes a little. I threw on a t-shirt and skinny jeans from my closet. Then I went to my dresser to look in the mirror. I examined my face, and sighed as I saw my pale complexion. I shrugged it off though and I finished my morning routine with a small amount of eyeliner. I try to avoid the overdone makeup job.

Then I went to do some of the regular things - eat, brush teeth, etc. Time to get to school, I thought. I grabbed my things and headed out the door to my car. Once I got there, I dumped my things into it, got in and started the engine to begin the short ride to school.

After about 5 minutes of driving and blaring music from my Ipod, I pulled into the school parking lot. My car wasn't that impressive, but it blended in decently around here. It was an old dark teal colored Jetta, and that's all I know. I've never known much in the way of cars at all, simply because I could car less about that stuff.

My car looked fine, but it'd break down a lot. I guess that's what you'd expect from an old car that was bought on a budget though, nothing much. If I sold it now it would probably be worth less than $1000. Then again, I don't know anything about cars, so how would I know?

After I parked the car and such, I hopped out, pulling out my school things with me. "Nice car!" I heard someone say from the parking lot. "Dude, sweet ride!" I heard another say. I glanced over the parking lot, and there was a small crowd of people hovering around a car that I couldn't see. I shrugged it off; it was most likely someone's new, expensive car that people were just admiring.

I walked into the school and headed towards my locker. My locker was in this secluded little square of lockers that you could never find. I turned into the empty space where the lockers were, and grimaced when I could smell it. I held my breath as I reluctantly but quickly entered the invisible cloud of stench that was always in the general area that my locker was in.

The guy's locker who was next to mine was the place for the majority of the bums at my school to congregate apparently. The stench that surrounds him and his locker is like bad body odor, cigarette smoke, someone passing gas, and bad cologne to cover it all up. It's possibly one of the most repulsive smells I've ever experienced. I have a strong stomach, but I quite literally almost threw up a few times while getting things for my next class of the day.

Most of his friends will ask various people around there if they could bum a smoke. And apparently, as I've overheard, there's some in the one guy's locker the majority of the time. I don't smoke, and I never have. I think it's incredibly disgusting to do so.

Besides the overwhelming, horrid odor that surrounds them everywhere they walk, also did the girls. I honestly didn't understand how they could stand that smell, and flirt with those disgusting boys like all was well. What was so appealing about them? I could see absolutely nothing admirable about them at all. They weren't even attractive and clearly didn't take very good care of themselves. Their personalities were also lacking.

Bracing myself, I strolled into the stench cloud, with my head phones blasting music into my ears to block out their obnoxious conversations. Still holding my breath, I opened my locker, as quickly as possible, putting my things in and grabbing what I needed. Momentarily, I got a whiff of the area by accident, almost gagging as I finished getting my things out and just about ran to get out of there. Once I was far enough away, I gasped, inhaling the clean, breathable air around me.

After dropping my things off into my class room, I went to talk to some of my friends and pass the time. I found some of them sitting against a wall in mid conversation. "Oh. My. God. Did you see that new family here yet? They're _so_ hot!" asked Natalie excitedly, directing her question towards Kayla.

"Yeah, I did!" she said, her eyes wide with the same, but not as intense, excitement. "They were all inhumanly gorgeous" she continued in amazement. "Oh, I know, and they must be rich, what with a car that expensive. All the guys were drooling over it this morning" Natalie said, rolling her eyes.

"That must be why I seen so many of them hovering over a car in the parking lot this morning" I chimed in. Natalie's attention drifted to me as she just noticed my presence. "Oh hey, Adalia, I didn't see you there."

_Naturally_.

"Have you seen them yet?" she asked, clearly overly excited over the whole ordeal, and gossiping madly about it. She's always been incredibly boy crazy.

"No, I haven't yet" I answered, "But I'll keep an eye open for a gorgeous family of rich kids. I'll have to get back to you on that." I said, trying not to roll my eyes.

"Definitely, because I'm really curious about them. Hey, do any of you know their names yet?"

"No, we haven't figured that one out yet." answered Kayla.

"Oh, well if you guys find out then let me know" she told us. _Ring, ring, ring_the warning bell rang, signaling that we'd better get to class. "Alright, Natalie" I told her. Kayla nodded her head in agreement. "Thanks," she said picking up her things, "I'm going to get to class now, but make sure to let me know if you find out anything else."

"Okay." Kayla told her, as she walked away for her next class.

"She's pretty obsessed with these kids already." Kayla murmured to me once Natalie was out of listening range. I laughed, "That's what I was just thinking" I admitted. "She's so boy crazy. It's not healthy." I laughed. "Ohhh yes. I think it should be considered an illness when it gets that bad" she joked.

I nodded, laughing, "very true..." I said, looking in the direction of my class. "Hey, I'd better get going to class now" I said, paranoid I'd be late. We said our goodbyes and headed towards first block. I have biology this semester, and I've always had an interest in science.

I think it's the unknown things, and the incredible things we've found out over the years and are still discovering. There's so much still unknown, and it fascinates me. You've got to respect the people who could sit in a lab researching the unknown for months straight to figure something out that they aren't positive was even there in the first place. A person would need an extraordinary amount of patience to do those things, something that I lack enough of for that task.

I walked into the classroom and took a seat, and a few moments later the bell rang. The beginning of class went pretty much the same. First a bell ringer, followed by notes, yada, yada, yada.

Mr. Brady was talking about punnett squares, which was easy, considering we've already gone over it a couple years ago. "B, or brown, is dominant over..." he paused mid sentence as he was cut off by the door opening, every head in the room was turning toward the door.

I whipped my head around, to see one of the councilors walking in; followed by a student I've never seen before. Walking through the door was the most incredibly gorgeous person I've seen in my entire life. She had deep chocolate brown eyes and long, flowing curly reddish brown bronze hair to her slender waist.

The guys in my class were practically drooling on their desks as they watched her walk in the room. I always thought that was only an exaggeration, but apparently not. The girls were all staring at her with envy written all over their faces. "Oh, yes, I almost forgot. Class, I'd like you to meet..." he said, looking to the new girl to finish.

"Renesmee Cullen" she answered, her voice sounding like bells, equally as beautiful as her appearance. I suddenly felt intimidated by her, she seemed so perfect in every way.

"Right, Renesmee..." he said, a little confused by her unusual name. "Hmmm" he said looking around the room and at a paper, contemplating. "Our seats are all full; I don't know where I'm going place you..." All the guys' heads jerked up happily, like this was their big chance to be her lab partner. One of them opened their mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Mr. Brady before he could make a sound.

"Oh, I know, how about right there, Miss. Cullen." he said pointing to the seat beside me. "The student who sits there is on vacation for a while. Until we can sort this out, you'll sit right there." he said, relieved to have solved the problem for now. I looked up to Renesmee, who was walking over to her new seat beside me gracefully. I cleared my things out of the way as she sat down.

She looked at me with her wide eyes cheerful and friendly. "Hello, my name is Renesmee Cullen; it's nice to meet you." She said smiling, holding her palm out to shake hands. She seemed rather friendly and nice, and the small amount of nervous feelings I had felt vanished quickly.

As I reached out to shake hands with her, she was still smiling a warm smile. "What's your name?" she asked. "Adalia Greenfield, it's nice to meet you too, Renesmee" I said returning the smile. "Oh please, Adalia, call me Nessie." she said, lightly laughing beautifully. I laughed a little bit too, shyly, "Alrighty, Nessie, then."

"That's a pretty name by the way" she told me. "Oh, well thank you, my mom was really into unique names when she had me." I said, chuckling a little bit, thinking about my memories of her from so long ago. She laughed louder this time, "Your mother and mine have that in common; mine was pretty into unique names too. My name was more of a creation of hers, though."

"I haven't heard the name Renesmee before, did she make it up?"

"Yes, it's a mixture of my grandma's names." she said. "What were their names?" I asked curiously. "Renee and Esme" She said still as happily and cheerful as she has been the whole conversation. "I see. That's very creative though, you're a one of a kind with that name." I said smiling a friendly smile a little bigger than before.

"Oh, you really have _no_idea" She said lost in thought, as if what I said was an understatement. I was now even more curious, what did she mean? I felt like I was missing this huge story behind her words. She was smiling into her lap when Mr. Brady told us to get to a lab. "So where are you from?" I asked.

"Me and my family moved here from Forks, Washington." she answered, and made a face as if to say: _have you heard of forks?_ "You guy's must love low population, rainy towns on the west coast then, huh?" I asked, smiling and jokingly. "Yeah, my family loves it in places like this, we've always had a thing for small towns... we all really loved Forks" she said. "Why did you move away, if you all liked it so much there?" I asked, realizing I was being a little nosey.

"Well, it's complicated..." she said reluctantly and embarrassed. I could tell that she was drifting into a day dream of her memories. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to be nosey." I told her apologetically. "Oh, no, it's fine. It's just something I can't talk about, family things..." she said. Suddenly, the bell rang for class to end, startling me, and breaking Nessie out of her day dream.

She shook her head slightly, coming back to reality. "I'll see you tomorrow, Nessie." I said reaching my own hand out this time to shake hands goodbye. "Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow, it was nice meeting you again," she said smiling but still in a daze as she reached out her hand to shake again.

A pool of images flooded into my mind as soon as we made contact. Beautiful, sparkling people pranced through a meadow, but their movements resembled those of a predator searching for its prey. The view turned towards a frightened man staring in shock at the predators. I couldn't really make out the faces of these people because the sun was too bright. One sprang at the frightened figure in front of them, and the others quickly, impossibly fast, sprang after him to hold him back.

She pulled back quickly, nervously, and the images immediately followed. She looked worried and ashamed, like she messed up, and quickly said "Bye." I stared after her with my eyes wide in shock as she flew out the door gracefully, trying to figure out what had just happened.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

The whole day I couldn't stop thinking about the vision, those images. Who were those people? How did I even see them? I then remembered her thinking back on her memories after I asked her why her family moved. Were those people from her memories? There was something familiar about them, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to find out why that was. I was walking to second period when I ran into my friends Hannah and Landon.

Hannah and Landon are a couple, and are both seniors this year. She was about the same size as me, short at about 5'1. He was huge, though. I felt like a midget whenever I was around him, and I could point him out of a crowd due to the fact to he hovers over everyone. Together, they make the cutest couple I've ever seen. They're always together and holding onto each other affectionately. You can really tell that they both genuinely love each other, and that's hard to come by.

Even though I'm a little jealous that they've been lucky enough to find love like that, I still could never see them apart. They're really my favorite couple I know. They're relationship really gives me a new hope for the concept of love. Every other relationship doesn't seem as real, as genuine. It seems like most relationships are based on sex, especially for those of the male species.

Most people also begin calling it love way too early, and you can tell they're just confusing love with lust and desperation. Everyone is all way too desperate to fall in love, and then call their insignificant relationships love. Then two weeks later they threaten to commit suicide when they ultimately break up because that person is their "true love", or they just get over it like it was no big deal.

I could rant on for a day about the things I hate about teenagers and relationships nowadays. Including the fact that our youth is going downhill fast, and girls are getting sluttier younger. It's pretty sad when you find an 11 or 12 year old who's already lost their innocence and it disgusts me. Most guys couldn't care less either, they're only eager to get it on, and they don't care who they who they hurt along the way.

Back to Hannah and Landon, though. While they give me hope to find someone of my own, it's also very discouraging, if that makes any sense at all. They prove that love is possible, and still out there, but they also prove how hard a find it is. What hope is there out there for me? No decent guy is interested in me; I've never even had a boyfriend. At almost 17, I've never even had my first kiss, and that makes me feel utterly pathetic.

I've never even had a long lasting friendship, or a best friend. I just don't relate to anyone enough for a bond strong enough to last. I feel like I'm just destined to not fit in with anyone; I just don't belong. There's little hope to find true love in this world, and I simply don't have the luck to find it.

"Hey, Hannah, Landon" I greeted them. I was on Landon's side, and he looked down to say hi back and led Hannah to hold his other hand on my side so I could talk to her. "Hey, whats up?" I asked. "Nothing really, it's really cold here" she said, as Landon wrapped her up in his arms to warm her as they walked side by side. They're so adorable.

"It's feels like they turned the air conditioning up around here" Landon said. I chuckled, "Yeah, I know" I said rubbing my arms to warm them as I realized how cold I was.

"What's with the pirate hat?" I asked raising an eye brow, pointing to the hat on Landon's head. Hannah laughed as he answered "Oh, my teachers had them in class today and I decided to keep one. You like it?" he asked, posing with the hat. I laughed; he was always such a goof ball. Whenever someone jokes with me though, I have no idea what to say and I become shy and awkward. It's the weirdest thing ever. I tried to come up with something clever and funny to joke along with him. "Yes, it suits you very well. You're stylin'."

Well, that wasn't so funny, but at least it wasn't as much of an awkward answer as I usually come up with. "Oh, I know. I'm a trendsetter." he answered back with a silly grin. I didn't know what else to say, so I randomly asked them "So how have you guys been?"

"I feel bad for my mom, my dad and her are getting divorced" she said frowning sadly. "Aww, I'm sorry. It sucks when parents get divorced. It happens so often these days" I told her apologetically.

"Yeah I know" she said her eye brows ruffling as she thought of something. "Hey, are your parents together still or are they yet another divorced couple?" I could feel my face fall when I heard the question. "Uhh... they would have been..." I said sadly.

"What?" she asked confused. "My mom, brother and sister died when I was 10" I said, hearing the unintentional cracking in my voice. "Oh, I'm so sorry Adalia, I didn't mean to bring that up" she said sadly and apologetically. Landon looked at me with the same sympathetic look on his face.

I skipped all the gory details about how it all happened. I couldn't tell them that, the second I made even the slightest hint of what happened that night people began calling me crazy. Vampires? Who would believe that? I wouldn't have, but that's the only conclusion I could come up with. I'm starting to believe them on the status of my sanity.

"It's fine" I told her, trying to reassure her with a fake a smile. There's no need to share my misery with them, it's not their fault. She looked unsure of my answer, but changed the subject. "So all of today there's been a lot of hype about those new kids." That's when I realized Renesmee was from that new family. Simultaneously, the questions about those images that randomly came into my head this morning came up along with my memories from that night in the woods.

My mind began running at million miles per hour, connecting the two situations. I then realized why the people in those images were so familiar to me. Is it even possible that the people in those images were the same... what would you call it, _species,_as the man in the woods on the worst night of my life? No, they couldn't be. I'm just jumping to conclusions, I told myself.

Just because they were as graceful as the man in the forest and looked like predators hunting their prey, doesn't mean they're the same. I started feeling the tears well up in my eyes thinking about that night in more detail than usual. I couldn't stop the tears from running out of my eyes, it was humiliating.

"I... I have to go." I told Hannah and Landon suddenly as I turned to walk away so they couldn't see my teary eyes in full detail. After I got a hall pass from my teacher next period so I could legally roam the halls, I ran to the bathroom to think and have some privacy. I splashed some water in my face in the sink once I got to the bathroom, frantically talking myself out of connecting the two situations.

I don't know how that happened and who the people were, but I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach telling me I was right on. If I really was crazy, the feeling telling me this is definitely the one to blame for that. After I left the bathroom I was still thinking about my mom, my brother, and my sister that night, the way they were killed so horribly...

I tried to snap myself out of it, to stop thinking about the things that would only lead to a breakdown. School was not the place for this. I tried to replace my negative thoughts with a beautiful tune I'd heard, trying to calm myself.

My memories only came more potent this time, and I laughed out loud at myself and how pathetic I am. Whenever I tried focusing on not thinking about something, it only made me focus on it even more. As I was walking, I looked up out of my reverie and noticed two boys staring at me. They were both incredibly gorgeous, and for a second I forgot to breath.

They must have heard me laughing at myself and wondered what the heck was wrong with me. One had a nervous, shocked expression, and the other was looking at me with a curious, almost admiring expression. I was still walking this entire time, but with my head facing towards the two guys I was passing in a girlish daze. They were so beautiful.

Once I gained my composure and was about to turn my head back in the right direction in front of me, I slammed into something hard and was knocked to the floor. I squeezed my eyes shut and screamed a string of profanities at myself in my head for being such a klutz. The pain in my head from the collision was enough to make me feel dizzy.

Once I opened my eyes I was startled as I seen a pair of hands reaching down to help me up. I grabbed the hands with my own without looking up to see who they belonged to. A sudden rush of fear spiraled through my body, and chills ran through the back of my head and back as I immediately recognized these hands.

These hands were frozen cold, and hard as a rock.


	3. Butterflies

**Umbrella's And Elephants by: Cinematic Sunrise**

Dressed up from head to toe, to get by.  
It seems once again, I forgot what keeps me safe and dry.  
To the weepy windowpanes, that are dripping with dew...  
I can hear the rain outside, falling from the sky  
And you can hear the...

Pitter-patter on the rooftop  
You can listen to the rhythm of the raindrops  
I wish that the sun would come and stay  
But this is a song for rainy days

(Leo D. quote from the movie Basketball Diaries = "You're growing up, and the rain sort of remains on the branches of a tree that will someday rule the Earth, and it's good that there is rain. It clears the month of your sorry rainbow expressions, and it clears the streets of the silent armies, so we can dance.")

Let's go dance around in the rain  
Don't pay any attention to the people staring from inside  
We'll leave all our cares behind  
And you can hear it the...

And I know once the clouds shed their tears  
I know that I'll be okay  
I know that I'll be okay

Even if the rain always wins  
And forces my eyes shut, to dream of  
I'll still dream of brighter days

* * *

Panic assaulted my body, and I was reluctant to look up and face the person above me. The tears were collecting in my eyes and I tried to hold them back, but a few drops managed to escape. Slowly, I lifted my head to confirm my fears, to see those same red eyes from the night 7 years ago. He was coming back for me, I knew it. Shit, shit, double shit.

Once my face was tilted up to an angle that I could see this person at, my eyes met a pair of big dark topaz eyes, staring at me with so much intensity I could feel my heart beat pound even faster. It was a different kind of pounding beat though, not of fear. His face was directly in front of mine, and we were less than a foot apart. I could see a hint of happiness behind the intensity in his expression.

My heart melted as every trace of fear I once had vanished, being replaced my happiness and affection for these beautiful dark eyes and the person they belonged to. My eyes scanned the rest of the face, only to see even more beautiful dark features. He was perfect; adorable, yet very handsome and beautiful at the same time. His skin was pale and looked like it was made of porcelain. He was the most breathtakingly gorgeous boy I've ever seen, with beautiful dark hair cut a little bit under his ears.

He stared back at me also scanning me over with admiration and concern. His eyes were wide as they stared me down, and he tilted his head to the side a little as he looked at me. I felt a strange sensation in my stomach, like something fluttering inside of me. Was this the butterflies? As soon as I seen him up close, staring into my eyes, that was it. I felt something inside of me grow. The want, the_ need _to be in his arms. I didn't understand it.

Once we both collected ourselves, he was the first to speak during the not so awkward silence. He lifted his hand to my cheek, wiping away the few tears that escaped delicately with his fingers. "Are you alright?" he asked in a caring Spanish accent (with a splash of Italian). I forgot how to breathe at the sound of his voice. It was so smooth, mysterious and beautiful, much like him.

I knew my shyness and awkwardness would deceive me. What a surprise. "Ye..yeah" I stuttered out, at a loss of words. I could feel my cheeks burning. Then, he flashed a big brilliant smile, showing all of his perfectly aligned white teeth. He was so beautiful, I could hardly register any thoughts. All I could possibly do was watch him and his godlike glory in a heavenly daze.

He chuckled at me, more than likely at my awkward response. "You're a bit clumsy, aren't you?" he asked. His voice and his accent was so unbelievably heart melting, I forgot what to say again. "Ye..yeah. I guess I am." Yet another awkward response. I was so nervous, words could barely even come out. The butterflies in my stomach still fluttered around.

He smiled politely, offering his hand, palm face-up, to help me get back on my feet. I accepted, and he pulled me up as we both had our eyes on each other the whole time. The way he looked at me, all I could do was melt. His eyes stared so deep into my own, like they were the windows to my soul and he was trying to decode my life story, why I am the way I am.

When I was up I fell again, but into his arms. Wow, I was falling a lot today I thought to myself. I felt an urge to wrap my arms around him and snuggle myself into his chest that I was now leaning against from the fall. With him, even in these short few minutes, I felt at _home._ Like he was the one person I could actually relate to. I wanted to talk to him, get to know him and his life.

I noticed his shoulders slouch over like he was contemplating holding me in his arms, but then he straightened up and politely lifted me away from him. It was too quick, as if he quickly but reluctantly changed his mind and pushed me away. He looked down regretfully, and his once peaceful face looked like he was pained and in the midst of some internal dilemma.

I noticed the other boy standing next to him, looking at me worriedly and pensively. This boy had the same bronze hair as Renesmee, and was just as gorgeous. They're related, no doubt. Both of the boys in front of me had similar builds. The dark haired one that complicates my breathing was slightly taller than the other boy, who was already about 6 feet. He was about the same height as Landon, who was 6'3. They were both skinny and boyish, but with very toned bodies.

The bronze haired boy moved his mouth quickly to the dark haired one who helped me up. I couldn't hear any words or make any of the movements out to read his lips most of the time. They looked back and forth between each other and me, and I knew there was some form of communication going on between them.

In that instant, as soon as I thought that, the bronze haired boy looked up at me shocked and confused. For a moment he just looked at me, his eyes wide with confusion. Then the dark haired boy spoke up. "I guess we'll see you around." and he turned in the opposite direction.

Wait, what? They're leaving, just like that? I don't know why, but I didn't want them to leave. I felt like if I let them leave, they'd disappear and I'd never see them again. I felt like they were just a dream, the beautiful, charming creatures that they were, and if I let them go that would be it. This thought was heart breaking to me, and I couldn't comprehend why that was. This is weird.

"Wait, don't go. Why do you have to leave so soon?" I said. He turned back in my direction again, looking pained and sad. "I apologize, but we must. My brother and I, we have some family matters that we need to get settled..." I felt a pang and looked down to the ground sadly. I can't believe myself right now. Why was I so attached to this guy?

"Oh and why don't you be a little more careful next time" he said, and I noticed a little chuckle. "I'll try" I told him nonchalantly. "Well I'll try to make sure you keep that promise" he murmured, more to himself than to me. "Sorry, Adalia, we don't mean to be rude." said the bronze haired boy apologetically.

Before I could say anything else. They turned to walk away. They were so fast and graceful. "Wait! What are your names? How do you know _my_ name...?" I asked as I tried running after them with no success. I just watched in awe at their quick graceful movements, until they turned and were out of sight. Jesus Christ, those kids are fast.

I stopped, frustrated and confused. Why were they looking at me so strangely? How did he know my name? Did they know the rumors that I was crazy and wanted to run away as fast as they could from me? I frowned as I thought that. Those rumors ruined everything.

In elementary school, not long after _that night _I heard someone talking about vampires, and everything clicked in my mind. _Vampires, that creature must have been a vampire_, I thought. _He had sharp teeth and he sucked the blood from my family, what else could it have been_, I thought as I talked myself into believing in myths.

In the middle of my thoughts is where I made the worst mistake. "Vampires don't exist" one kid said. "I'm not so sure about that..." I challenged, still dazed in my thoughts. Once I snapped out of it, every head was staring at me like I was insane. Everyone who knew me stopped talking to me since then, because they all thought I was crazy.

I've redeemed myself since then though, and always go with the "I was just a little kid" excuse, rolling my eyes. I still am not so sure they don't exist. Maybe I really am crazy. I broke out of my reverie, remembering I _do _have a class to get to. I'm so late. When I got to class, I gave my teacher the pass and went to my seat. I began drifting off into day dream land, thinking about the two guys in the hallway.

The bronze haired one and how he looked at me confused and shocked. What did I do to confuse and/or shock him? The dark haired one, who was the epitome of a tall, dark (well, not skin tone wise) and handsome mysterious stranger. So gorgeous that he complicated my breathing. The way he looked at me so deeply, it made my heart melt. His beautiful accent, so handsome and kind, yet strong. The way I felt at home with him, in his arms...

What was I thinking? I just met the guy, barely, and now I feel at home with him? I don't even know his name or anything about him. How stupid can I be? I gave up trusting guys a long time ago, I trust too easily and set myself up for disappointment. It would always end before it even began.

Whenever I'd start building a relationship with someone, they'd run away soon after. I'm convinced that it's because of the rumors. Those rumors that I hate so much. It ruins everything. No, that _vampire_ ruined everything. My family's life was perfect before he came along and destroyed it. _My _life was perfect. A loving, caring, and strong mother, a sweet and innocent little sister, and a protective and fun older brother who was my best friend.

Now they're all gone and my friends have abandoned me. I've barely brought up my reputation, but sometimes the rumors come back to haunt me. Sometimes I wonder what life would have been like if that had never happened. I suddenly felt bad; my dad was here too, life could be worse. I love my dad so much, and I'm glad we have each other. He's the only person in my life who I fully trust, if I didn't have him, I'd be truly lost. I shouldn't take him for granted.

A random thought finally occurred to me that was lingering in my mind somewhere. The dark haired boy was so cold and hard, just like the man in the woods. Were those two boys the same thing the man in the woods was? No, that's impossible. They can't be like him; they can't be what he is. Even though, logically, I was able to convince myself there was no relation, I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach telling myself otherwise. Just like earlier, my intuition was telling me that my conclusions are correct somehow.

"Ugh" I sighed, too quiet for anyone to hear, while I slouched down into my chair. Nothing can ever be simple, can't it? That dark haired boy would never be interested in _me, _Adalia Greenfield, the girl with a reputation for being insane. The awkward, small and shy girl who barely talks and doesn't have many friends. The girl with an unnaturally vibrant shade of red hair, and rich colored sea foam green eyes. The boring girl who doesn't have much of a life.

I sighed sadly. I'm not pretty enough for him. With his godlike beauty, he's sure to be able to get any girl he wanted here. He probably _already _has some gorgeous amazing girlfriend. Either way, I have no chance. I'd better not get my hopes up.

I put my head down on my desk, letting my hair fall over my face. Ever since the rumors were started, I've wanted to be invisible, but my weird hair color doesn't exactly help achieve that goal. It made me stand out, no one has ever seen a red this shade before.

All though I've attempted to master the art of disappearing and was successful for the most part, my hair grabs people's attention a lot. It's hard to blend in with the crowd when physically, you don't. I learned to deal with it, and do anything else in my power not to stand out too much. I hated getting any attention, because I make a fool of myself and half the time, it's not a _good_ kind of attention in the slightest. Whatever, all this teen angst won't do me any good. I'm just being whiny.

"Adalia!" I heard someone scream suddenly, interrupting my thoughts. Shawn Woods, this random kid who never stops bothering me. He's nice, in a way, but the niceness always seems pretty fake to me. It's like he's only trying to take advantage of my company. He's popular with most girls around here, but I find him very irritating.

"Shawn." I said, exasperatedly. He half smiled, "Why don't you come to my party on Saturday?" Why would he invite me to his party? I gave him a skeptical look. "Seriously, it will be cool. Lots of interesting people will be there, you'll have a blast." he winked. "No thank you, Shawn." I said as politely as I could muster. I'll pass on any opportunity to be embarrassed.

"Awww" he whined. "Trust me, you _have _to come." He stared into my eyes, attempting to hold a long piercing gaze. Probably to charm me into giving in, but his attempt failed miserably. When he noticed I wasn't going to cave any time soon, he sighed. "I hope you'll change your mind." he told me, frowning.

Suddenly, I heard another voice talking. "Oh, why not Adalia? You know you want to, _everybody _will be there." Sophia Delong, one of the worst girls on my case. She's been tormenting me ever since the day the rumor started, while most people let it go after a few years. "Besides, Shawn's inviting the new kids." She nudged him, "Aren't you, Shawn?"

He eyed me, looking as if he has the potential to get me to decide to go using this new piece of information. Why does he want me to go so bad? "Yeah, I am inviting them." he smiled. An uproar of conversation and voices suddenly started. "Oh! Are you really?" Stacy, a girl in Sophia's 'group' said obnoxiously.

"They're sooo sexy!" Megan, another girl in her group said dreamily. These girls really need to lay off the caffeine.

"Who are they?" asked Stacy. "I know one of their names is Edward Cullen, and most of them are Cullen's too." answered Sophia. _Renesmee Cullen_, I thought. This Edward must be her brother or something.

"One of their names is Renesmee Cullen" I said, trying to not be so introverted for once. Sophia raised a perfect eyebrow. "That's a strange name." she spit out bitterly. She doesn't really like me giving my input on anything. Sophia was the queen bee of the junior class. She was like a living Barbie doll, with perfect physique and shiny long blond hair.

She's hated me since before I could remember, and I've never done anything to her. That's why I don't understand why she wanted me to go to that party. "Edward is completely gorgeous, but I think he's taken." stated Megan. "Do we know anything about the other Cullen's?" Sophia asked annoyed. "There are like... _eight_ of them?" Megan said, raising an eyebrow.

"That's a huge family." Sophia said, surprised. "Wait, are they all related?"

"I'm not sure... but lunch is soon, so we'll find out more soon enough."  
___________________________

The lunch bell rang, sending all of the students jumping out of their seats and rushing out the door. I waited for Kayla to catch up. She was in that class with me, but she sat all the way on the other side of the room. Once she caught up, we began walking towards lunch. Kayla was a good friend of mine, sort of. We never did anything outside of school really, because she's always so busy, but she's always been a good friend. She eyed be concernedly, and then began to talk. "What was all of that about?"

"What was what about?" I asked, confused. "Shawn Woods, what was his deal?"

"Oh, I have no idea. He just randomly asked me to go to his party." I told her innocently. "That's weird. I thought he and his friends didn't like you." They thought I was crazy. "And that's exactly what I thought, too" I told her, shrugging. "Are you going to go to it?"

"I don't.. know. I didn't want to, but look where that's gotten me." I told her, laughing with no humor. She knows that I don't go to many parties like most kids my age. I never have the chance. Maybe I should go, take a chance this time and have fun. Make mistakes, and be able to learn from them. How bad could it be? Well, actually, that was pretty dumb, plenty of bad things could happen. I suddenly didn't want to spend my whole life hiding from the bad things anymore, though. "Oh." she said, simply.

We got into the lunch line and got our food, and went to our normal spots. The table wasn't exactly normal today though, there were extra people sitting at it. Me and Kayla were the only ones from our group here today, so we could easily fit into the long table anyway. That's when I noticed who the extra people at the table were. Eight students I've never seen before, with the exception of three. Two had beautiful bronze hair, and were gorgeous; I've seen these two before. I also noticed a dark head sitting along with them. It was the dark haired boy from the hallway.

There were two empty seats on the end, and we sat down cautiously. I've noticed that, like me, everyone is very intimidated by these new students, particularly because of their uncanny good looks. Kayla and I didn't talk the entire time. It was too awkward to go on with our own conversations. Me and Kayla sat across from each other, and of course, ironically enough, I was lucky enough to have to sit next to the dark haired boy. The boy that makes my heart skip a beat and causes butterflies to flutter in my stomach.

Kayla sat next to the bronze haired boy I had seen in the hallway earlier. Next to him was a girl who I at first almost mistaken for Renesmee, but realized it wasn't her. She was incredibly beautiful, with dark brown (or was it auburn?) hair just as long as Renesmee's. She could have easily been a model, being more beautiful than many models themselves.

The dark brown haired girl and the bronze haired boy stared at each other passionately. The way they looked at each other made me stare in envy. They were clearly a couple; what with the way they looked at each other like they were the only two people in the room. They looked into each other's eyes, and I got a strange impression they would die for each other, they loved each other so much. Hannah and Landon's love was just as strong, but more playful, affectionate and cute. These two here had a passionate relationship that was evident in the way their love for each other just radiated from them like a fire.

Next to the dark haired girl who looked a lot like her, was Renesmee, looking as beautiful as she did earlier. She and the bronze haired boy _had _to have been related, the resemblance there was very clear. Next to her was a small girl, who looked like she might be slightly smaller than me, with small pixie like features, and cute spiky black hair. Across from her was a tall and lean boy with honey blond hair. It looked like he and the black haired girl was a couple. To his right, there was a burly boy with a round face and dark curly short hair, giving him a child like look, yet his size made him look intimidating. To his right, was what looked like his a girlfriend; a gorgeous, Barbie looking blond like Sophia, except she looked more elegant. Then to her right, was the dark haired boy, who was next to me.

They all looked so different, yet there were common characteristics they each shared. First, each of them had a shade a topaz eyes, an eye color I never knew existed. Renesmee was the only one in the group who had something other than topaz eyes, with her chocolate brown ones. Second, they were all pale, paler than I was, and I have something pretty close to albino skin, basically. Most of them also had dark shadows under their eyes. They didn't eat the food in front of them either, except for Renesmee, who was eating only sparingly. Above all else, each of them had inhuman beauty, it almost seemed impossible for anyone to be as beautiful as they were.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to sit there or not. One part of me felt like grabbing Kayla and making a run for it, finding a new table, while the other had no intentions of moving, and wanted to stay right by the dark haired boy's side.

I looked up at the dark haired boy next to me, while nibbling on my food, to see his expression. He was looking at the bronze haired boy across from him hiding his face with his right hand, slouching as far from me as he could. I suddenly felt terrible. He didn't want to look at me, or he didn't want me to see him. I glanced up nervously at the boy across from him, who caught my glance and stared back at me for a moment. He returned my nervous and distressed expression, and looked pensive like he had earlier. Then I quickly looked down, embarrassed and self conscious. I could feel the blood flaming in my cheeks.

The part of me who wanted to run away was winning this time. I frowned and looked back at Kayla, who was examining the new students for herself in awe. I was surprised her jaw didn't drop. The girl next to the bronze haired boy hugged tightly onto him, and shot me a sympathetic glance when we locked eyes for a moment. I was so confused.

I looked at all of the other new student's expressions. The pixie like girl looked at me curiously and excitedly, but also concerned at the same time. The burly boy looked as if he would laugh about the situation for some reason, but was trying hard to be serious. Renesmee looked at me with recognition and happiness, but that switched to a concerned frown as she looked like she was reminded of something. Then I looked at the two blond haired students. The boy looked frustrated and regretful. The girl looked at me with an angry expression with a mixture of others swirled into them. One of the expressions mixed into them frightened me then, the hatred reminding me of a sinister look that the man in the forest had once made.

My cheeks flushed and I swallowed hard, trying to remove those thoughts from my mind. The bronze haired boy perked his head up at me suddenly, looking at me with an expression I did not understand. It was like he was concerned for me, not for the same thing as before, but for what I went through that night, like he knew what had happened and could comprehend it. He also looked interested and confused. A line formed in between his two perfect eyebrows as he looked at me. In my peripheral vision, I noticed the dark haired boy look down at me. He stared into my eyes momentarily and then recoiled back into his previous stance.

The girl next to the bronze haired boy started to speak. "I'm sorry, did my family and I take you and your friends seats?" she asked. "Uh, well we do sit here every day. But we don't have any more people coming, so there's enough room for the two of us today."

"Oh, I see. Well we can move, if you'd like..."

"No, that won't be necessary." I told her. I wanted to get out of there anyway, I couldn't take the tension. Why had they been so tense? "My friend and I can leave, it's no problem. I'm sorry we invaded your... space." I stood up, picking up my lunch. Kayla looked like she didn't want to get up, but she followed any way. The girl frowned, "I'm sorry if we made you feel uncomfortable. You really don't have to leave though."

"It's perfectly fine with us" I said quickly. I looked down at the dark haired boy now, who was looking up at me. Directing my gaze toward him, I said "I guess we'll see you around", repeating what he had told me earlier. He widened his eyes a little, looking at me like he had earlier. I still watched him a second or two more, and then I turned around swiftly, afraid to look back at their watching faces.

What had I done wrong? The dark haired boy just about went out his way to stay as far away from me as possible. I felt the tears well up in my eyes, but I held them back. Why did they look at me with such expressions. They ranged from confused, concerned, pensive, and hostile and angry. I hoped it wasn't about me, but then I couldn't deny the way they looked at me, it looked like I was the subject of their emotions.

"I'm so lost." said Kayla.

"So am I, Kayla. I don't even know where to begin on how lost I am"

* * *

Please make sure to review. =]

And also check out the song in the beginning if you've never heard it before. It's a very good song.  
I'm going to put other songs in my chapters as well. Songs that I think fit the meaning of the story and/or chapter.

Thank you for reading.


	4. Imagination

**Rainbow Veins by: Owl City**

High rise, veins of the avenue  
Bright eyes and subtle variations of blue  
Everywhere is balanced there like a rainbow above you  
Street lights glisten on the boulevard  
And cold nights make staying alert so hard  
For heaven's sake, keep me awake so I won't be caught off guard  
Clearly I am a passerby but I'll find a place to stay  
Dear pacific day, won't you take me away?  
Small town hearts of the New Year  
Brought down by gravity, crystal clear  
City fog and brave dialogue converge on the frontier  
Make haste, I feel your heartbeat  
With new taste for speed, out on the street  
Find a road to a humble abode where both of our routes meet  
The silver sound is all around and the colors fall like snow  
The feeling of letting go, I guess we'll never know

Cheer up and dry your damp eyes and tell me when it rains  
And I'll blend up that rainbow above you and shoot it through your veins  
Because your heart has a lack of color and we should have known  
That we'd grow up sooner or later because we wasted all our free time alone

Your nerves gather with the altitude  
Exhale the stress so you don't come unglued  
Somewhere there is a happy affair, a ghost of a good mood  
Wide eyed, panic on the getaway  
The high tide could take me so far away  
VCR's and motorcars unite on the Seventh Day  
A popular gauge will measure the rage of the new Post-Modern Age  
Because somewhere along the line all the decades align

We were the crashing whitecaps  
On the ocean  
And what lovely seaside holiday, away  
A palm tree in Christmas lights  
My emotion  
Struck a sparkling tone like a xylophone  
As we spent the day alone

* * *

"I'm so lost." Said Kayla.  
"So am I, Kayla. I don't even know where to begin on how lost I am."  
"I felt like I was missing something that whole time. It was so awkward." she confessed.  
"You weren't the only one" It was the most awkward lunch period I've ever had. "I mean, the way they were _staring _at you. It was like... you were a menace to them or something."

Was that it, was I menace to them? This is really getting ridiculous now. They just got here, and I've never done anything wrong to make them feel that way. "I don't understand why that would be." I told her. She pursed her lips pondering, and said, "Have you talked to any of them yet?"

"Well..." I contemplated telling her everything, leaving out all of the vampire stuff. "Renesmee is in my biology class first period, and she's my lab partner."

"Renesmee?" She asked, unaware of whom I was talking about. "She's the girl with the long bronze hair." I signaled over to her with my eyes. "Oh..." she said, looking over to the table we had just left so she could see who I was speaking of. We sat down at another table that was in view of the table the new students sat at. "I see." she said.

"And... well, this morning I was walking from the bathroom, and then I seen the dark haired boy and the bronze haired boy." She turned around to see who I was talking about. "Oh, those ones we sat next to?" she asked.

"Yes. I saw them in the hallway watching me. They distracted me for a moment and I ended up running into a wall and fell to the ground. One of them came over to help me up, and it was the dark haired one. We stared at each other for a while..." I realized how dumb and cheesy that sounded as I said it, and bit my lip. "He asked me if I was alright, I made an awkward response, he helped me up. And then they left. The end. "

She looked at me more curious than ever. "You were _'staring' _at each other for a while?" she said through a huge excited smile. "Uh, yeah" I said nervously. "Spill! Tell me all the details!" she said excitedly. So I told her everything, in more detail to the best of my ability. I told her how I felt and the way he looked at me. I felt like I might be sharing too much, but it felt nice to share it with someone. I left out anything related to mythical creatures and harsh feelings, of course.

"That's... incredible. You two would make a lovely couple. And the dark haired one looks like quite a catch." She said. I laughed, "Yeah, well it's not like I have any chance with him, Kayla. Besides, he clearly didn't want to look at me, or for me to see him, because he was hiding his face from me the whole time." I told her, my sadness involuntarily showing through.

She sighed. "Okay, first of all, Adalia, you have plenty of a chance to be with him. And second of all, he's staring at you _now_." I whipped my head up to see if that was true, and sure enough, he was turned facing me. His eyes locked onto my own for what seemed like an eternity but were only a few seconds, and then he turned back. My cheeks were probably red by now.

Kayla noticed how he turned away, but tried to remain optimistic. "I still think you have a chance."  
"I disagree." I said, biting into my food.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

The rest of the day went by quickly, while I was just wondering what had happened. Sooner or later last period came around; art class.

I walked to my seat and dumped my things onto my table, making no attempt at looking at my surroundings. I turned around to go and get a drink at the fountain, when I ran into someone. I gasped and jumped, startled, as I stood inches away from a chest that I had ran into. "I'm sorry I --", I began to say, until I looked up to see who I was apologizing to.

The dark haired boy hovered over me, looking at me with an amused expression. I must look like the clumsiest fool in the world to him, because he's witnessed my klutzy moments three times in one day already. He looked amused, smiling a crooked adorable smile, and then chuckled at me. I realized I was holding my breath when I decided to be the first to talk.

"I'm sorry I invaded your space." I told him, annoyed. I shouldn't have said that out loud. He raised an eyebrow, "My _'space'_?" Brilliant, this will be fun to explain. "Yes, your _'space'_, you clearly don't want me in it." His smiling face fell, as understanding washed over him.

"I'm sorry, but... it's complicated. Don't take it the wrong way, please." he said seeming genuine about his explanation and apology. I would have given in right then and there; his accent made it hard to resist. I tried to hold onto my common sense though, and not make such a fool of myself like I did earlier.

"Well I'm sorry for making it so complicated for you." The resentment inside me just poured out. On a regular day, I probably would have said something such as "Nah, it's cool, dude." but now the frustration and confusion was taking over. He looked like I wasn't making any sense to him at all, and he was about to speak until the teacher cut him off.

We both sat down at our seats, which were right next to each other at a table of a few people. "Where is our new student?" asked the teacher. The dark haired boy lifted his hand to point himself out to the teacher, and said "I'm right here."

"And your name is..." he said, while searching for the name on his computer."Oh, here we are. Demetrio Cullen, that's your name, right?"

"Correct." He confirmed. "But please, call me Demetri." He said smiling warmly. Demetri, so that was the mystery boy's name. It's much better to be able to refer to him as something other than 'the dark haired boy.' "Alright, Demetri. Where are you from?" He asked, walking up to our table.

"I'm half Italian and half Spanish." "I see, that's very interesting. How long did you live in those countries?"  
"For the majority of my life."  
"That explains your accent..." He continued, "So, Demetri, tell me, are you good at art?"  
"I'd like to think so."  
"Well then welcome to art class." He said, his eyes welcoming and warm.

He turned around and began directing the class. I can barely draw a stick figure usually, so I doubt I'll be very good at the drawing aspect of this class. I love photography, though. I take pictures all the time of random things.

I tried to ignore the gorgeous boy named Demetri sitting next to me and forget about his presence. He didn't talk the entire time, but a few times' I would catch a quick glance my way. "You're assignment this month will be to compose an original collection of art work of things that are inspiring or important to you. This art work can be anything from photography, digital art, a painting or a drawing. For example, let's say your dad inspires you. You could then draw or paint a picture of your father and anything that would symbolize why that is" the teacher told us.

He continued, "Be creative with this. Put your heart and soul into it; inspire me with your work." I searched my brain for something that inspires me. After a little while of thinking it over I came to music, photography and my mother as my inspiration; now the only part is applying that to art. I sat thinking of creative ways of putting my inspiration onto paper.

I looked over to Demetri slyly, who was closing his eyes in concentration, then opening them to sketch out whatever he was picturing in his mind on a sheet of paper. He was sketching the silhouette of a face, closing his eyes every now and then and continuing to draw.

I sighed, he was drawing impeccably well, and the fact that he could draw an image fabricated from his imagination just showed how good of an artist he is. I began fiddling with the locket around my neck, and when I realized what I was doing and I got an idea.

This locket was my mother's when she was young, and she passed it on to me. I wear it every day, so I can feel like I have a part of her with me at all times. My mother is very important and an inspiration to me, thus the locket being a symbol of her to me is important as well. I could do some kind of an artwork of it, to symbolize my mother.

The locket was beautiful and vintage. It was in a heart shape with intricate rose engravings in the gold, and a small heart made of pearl centered on the front. Inside on the right side was a picture of the two of us, and on the left was a beautiful red stone in the shape of a heart. I decided that I would make some kind of art work of this for one of the works in my collection.

I began sketching the locket, when the teacher walked over to examine our progress. "What are you drawing?" he asked, looking over my shoulder at my paper. "My locket." I said biting my lip and lifting my locket for him to see it. He nodded, "And what is significant about this locket?" he asked. Why on earth must he ask this? I don't exactly enjoy talking about it.

"It's significant because it was my mother's, and she passed it on to me years ago..."  
"And why is a locket that your mother owned significant to you?" I wanted to ask him, 'why are you so damn nosy?' but I kept my comments to myself. He doesn't know anything about my family so he wouldn't have known not to pry.

"Because my mother is important to me. It symbolizes her, and I admired her. With this locket I feel like a part of her is with me everywhere I go and every time I need her with me so badly." I said, holding back tears just as a precaution in case they threatened to fall again. Demetri was watching my responses the entire time, listening intently with curiosity.

A line of worry formed between the teacher's eyebrows and he said. "Oh, sounds like you're onto something great. Good job so far, keep it up." He moved onto Demetri's paper. "And you? What are you drawing?" He contemplated his answer, and then smiled. "A dream of mine," he stated simply, looking at me and the teacher. "That sounds interesting. Do you mean you're drawing from your imagination?"

"Something like that."  
"Good job. I have high hopes for you Demetri. I've seen some of your previous work and you are definitely a rare talent."  
"Thank you." he said politely and great fully.

"Good luck on your projects, Demetri." He told him, and then turned to me. "Adalia," he continued, and then walked away. Demetri looked at me one last time with the same expression, and then turned back to his work. We never spoke again throughout the whole period.

After class was over I quickly got my things together and headed towards my car. While I waited to cross the street to the student parking lot, I recognized the pixie like girl and the honey blond haired boy from lunch holding onto each other affectionately as they waited to cross too.

I looked both ways and saw that no car was close enough or going fast enough to run me over. I began walking quickly, reaching the lane separation when before I could register what was happening, I felt a cold hand grab mine tightly and yank me backward slightly to stop me from going any further, and a car speeding down the furthest lane at about 80 miles per hour flashing before my eyes.

I stood there in shock for a moment, my heart beating as fast as that car. I was just about road kill; so close to death that I could see it, feel it. I looked backward at the person who had just saved my life in astonishment, and I saw the little pixie like girl, staring at me in relief. After a few seconds she let go of my hand and let it drop to my side.

"I..." I didn't know what to say. I could have said I owe my life to her, but that would be cheesy and possibly overdoing it. "Thank you." I said, as it was the only thing that would come to mind. "You're welcome." she said, her expression unchanged. Then she suddenly laughed to herself, and muttered "You'd think you were Bella, the danger magnet."

I became confused, I didn't understand anything she had just said and what she meant. "What?" I asked. And then I heard a horn honk at us, and I jumped, startled, finally realizing we were in the middle of the road. Inside the silver Porsche in the driver seat was the bronze haired boy, and the brown haired girl in the passenger seat. They looked impatient.

"Maybe you should get out of the road so you don't run into that problem again." She said, jokingly. "Ehhh" I nodded horrified. The aftershock of what had happened finally caught up with me, and I felt like my heart beat pick up. The idea of becoming one with the ground in that way... I shivered in disgust and terror at the thought of it.

"See you later." She waved happily as her and the blond boy got in. He looked at me for a second and I felt a wave of calm come over me, and I didn't feel like hyperventilating from the horror that almost occurred anymore. I noticed someone with oh so familiar dark hair sitting in the back, just staring at me with an incomprehensible expression. The bronze haired boy looked at me before he drove off making his way around me.

I pulled myself together, and then headed for my car again. A car was pulling out; a new white Lexus Prius. I could see the blond haired new girl in the passenger seat notice me and then begin to glare involuntarily, and then the car took off. I've had enough of this, I thought, as I could feel the tears once again threaten to fall. I hurried towards my car and got in. I just wanted to be home right now.

------------------------------

Once I got home I plopped my things onto my bed lazily and started to play some music. I have my Ipod stereo, but I also have a record collection that I've had for a few years. Vinyl is fun to collect. I have so many records now that I've lost count; everything from The Beatles to MGMT. I turned on one of The Postal Service's records and fell to my bed like dead weight.

I wasn't tired before, but soon my eyelids become heavy and I drifted off to sleep. I had sweet dreams of my family when it was once whole.

My family all at the zoo, watching the animals. I remembered the cute monkey who had an obsession with belly buttons. He'd walk up to the window, point at his own belly button and then to yours. He wanted you to lift your shirt up to reveal your belly button, and when you did he would get excited and move onto the next person at the window.

Those were good times; my little sister was an adorable giggling little girl, and my brother and I being goof balls and acting like monkey's ourselves, rubbing our tummy's and making monkey sounds. My mother was laughing along with us at our happy child like antics, taking pictures so the memories would last.

My dad was also enjoying the family bonding, making us laugh every now and then by tickling us or mimicking us and rubbing his belly. I really missed this, when we were all so happy and together.

Another memory I relived in my sleep was from Christmas. We'd all bake Christmas cookies together and sing Christmas song's. We'd decorate the tree and dance along to Carol's. Christmas time at the Greenfields' looked like it came from a holiday movie or Christmas Catalog.

The house was decorated with warm, classic decorations all over. We were all so happy and filled with joy; it felt so magical, even dreaming the memories I could feel it. I temporarily felt peaceful and happiness in the tragic world I now reside in.

My sister Lily was really little and giggly, and the ultimate girly girl. She'd play with dollies and toys every minute she was awake. She'd often persuade me to play with her using her secret weapon of cuteness, and I'd have no choice but to give into that little face giving me the puppy dog eyes. She had my dad's straight light brown hair, and his same hazel eyes.

My brother, Oliver, was my best friend. He was slightly older than me by 2 years, but we were still very close. We'd do everything together; you would never see us apart. We'd go play outside and go swimming all of the time, and we got along because of my rather tom boyish tendencies.

I was still girly, but when it came to that I'd play with Lily. Oliver also had light brown hair that was a little lighter than Lily's. He had the same eye color as me and my mother; deep sea foam green.

My mother was your average motherly type. She was protective and caring, but she was also a very strong person. She loved us all very much and took care of us. She was the best mom in the world. She had light blond hair, sea foam green eyes and was strikingly beautiful.

My mother and my father were in love; even as a child I could see that. It was almost as passionate and affectionate as the bronze haired boy and the brown haired girl, or Hannah and Landon. All good memories have to end tragically though, as I dreamt I was in the woods that night again. Instead of being knocked on conscious though, the man was still holding up Oliver. He looked at him hungrily, and I could feel a scream rise up my throat but get caught. It felt so real, but I didn't feel like I was a part of this; I felt like I was just watching powerless in the background.

No, not Oliver. As if my sister and mother weren't enough already, I thought. I can't lose Oliver too, that would just be too much.

I began sobbing uncontrollably, watching as the man began to tilt his head towards my brother's neck. "_No_! Nonononono! NO! Get away from my brother!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, and without realizing what I was doing I was beside the man jumping on him and hitting him with all of my strength. I had to get him off my brother.

I continued hitting him furiously until I heard a voice yell back at me "Adalia! Stop!" I couldn't stop, I had to stop _him._ I felt someone grab me and I twisted and turned in their arms, trying to get away. They turned me and held me so I was facing away from them now. "Get away from my brother!" I sobbed desperately now, consciousness finally started to come to me slightly.

"Shhh, Adalia. It's just a dream. Wake up now, please," a familiar calming voice told me. Then I came back to reality, and fluttered my eyes open. I was startled to not see the man from my nightmares holding onto me and restraining my once flaring arms, but my father instead.

He looked at me concernedly. He was worried, I would have smacked myself for causing him more pain, but he was still restraining my arms. He looked at me once more, sighed, and slowly loosened his grip on me and let me go. "I'm really sorry, Dad." I told him, looking down guiltily. He looked at his arms and noticed small red marks forming where I must have hit him.

He startled me by laughing then, and said "For such a small girl, you really know how to throw a punch!" Wow, that's odd. I couldn't throw a punch to save my life. "That's really weird" I told him, reflecting my thoughts.

"I had to restrain you, Adalia. You were getting rather violent with the hits," then he noticed my sadness and his expression grew more serious. "Are you okay, Adalia?" He said pensively. "Yeah" That was a lie. He must have caught that, he knows me all too well. "That's not the truth, is it?" There's no point in lying any further. "No, that's not the truth." He sighed, releasing a huge breath. "Do you want to talk about that? Please, what happened?"

"It was nothing." He looked frustrated now. "Seriously, Adalia. I'm not kidding, please tell me?" I sighed this time. "I had a dream, about that man..." I gulped. "He was... killing Oliver." I told him, watching his expression. It changed from sadness, then to grim understanding and back to sadness. "I see." Dad always knew about the man in the forest, and what had happened. I spared him some of the details, but I've always gotten the impression he knew far more than I did.

"We looked everywhere for him." He began. This was true. My dad said that they got a search party together and found me days later, safe inside of an abandoned bear cave nearby. I was the only one that they found, while Mom, Lily and Oliver's bodies were never found.

I never actually seen Oliver being killed though, so we spent more time trying to find him. We had no luck. We've been searching over the years as well, but we've still never found anything. "I know," I said. We both just stared with saddened eyes for a long time, until my dad changed the subject. "So what are we going to make for dinner?" He asked with forced cheeriness.

"I really don't care." I told him. And I didn't care; I wasn't in the mood to. "I'm up for anything tonight." I continued, trying to lift his spirits by faking a smile. "Hmm..." he thought. "What about we go by that Mexican restaurant tonight. I know it's your favorite."

I smiled more genuinely this time. "Okay! I'll agree to that." I laughed. He was really trying to make _me _feel better. Mexican food is my favorite of all. "Alright, let's go now." he said, grabbing his keys.

* * *

I'll try and get the next one up soon. School started back up again this past week and it's the end of the semester so it's a little crazy with projects and exams.

I know I say this a lot, but please review and tell me what you think. It really helps being in contact with readers somehow and know if they enjoy reading it or not.

Oh and also, again, check out the song in the beginning if you've never heard it before. That song is amazing. I'm not sure how well it relates to the story, but I think it might relate a little.

PS. To clear the confusion, no, this is not the Volturi Demetri. I simply like the name and tall, dark and handsome guys, which led to him being Spanish and Italian.

I have no plans at this point to bring in the volturi anyway. I have far too many other plans to fit them in.


	5. Conspiracy

**The Rumour by: You Me At Six**

Well I am the cancer running through your veins  
I am the sweat dripping down the side of your face  
I am the pain in the back of your legs, it makes you fall to you knees it makes you believe  
And I am the headline, that's going to make front page news  
I am that fashion you're all into.  
We had to try something different  
We had to do something new  
We had to make some heads turn  
We had to put this to you  
I am the rumour on every ones lips  
I am the curse on your girlfriends hips.  
We are the different so we'll make a start  
Tell all your friends, oh sound the alarm.  
I am that feeling , that you've done something wrong.  
I am that friend , who knew all along.  
We say we have our best friends yet we stab them in the back.  
We try to show some love and , it's a skill that we lack.  
Ive had it with this crowd and I'm done with this town.  
Ive had enough of these shows , its over with you now.

Hold your hands in, into the air  
Hold your hands up as if you care

Oh hold on

Behind your back they talk about you all the time  
Behind your back they spread some shit and some lies

* * *

The next day at school went basically the same way at first as every other day. Before the bell rang I talked with Kayla and Natalie, the subject of conversation not being a shock at all. As predicted, Natalie asked if we knew anything about the new kids yet. I told her much less than what I had told Kayla yesterday. I told her about their names and what they looked like, and that was really all. I avoided the whole story about the hallway, the fear, and my near death experience.

I still don't know what the pixie girl's name is. If it weren't for her, I'd be in my grave right now; I really do owe her for that. Natalie, of course, had her eyes on Demetri, being the only one of the new students who appeared to be single. I didn't want to admit it, but this bothered me. After the bell rang, I went to sit at my seat in Biology. Renesmee (I mean Nessie) was sitting quietly at her own seat. I started to feel uncomfortable, what with everything that had happened yesterday. I think she felt uncomfortable too.

"Hey, Nessie" I said trying to act as normal as possible. Renesmee was really nice, and she did nothing. I can't even say any of her family did anything either, but the tension and glares I had gotten from them yesterday made me feel frustrated, and I couldn't explain why. "Hey," she said smiling. Then there was an awkward silence.

I decided to ask her about her family; questions that have been bothering me since yesterday. I knew that I probably shouldn't have, but curiosity got the best of me. Besides, it would make conversation. "So, can I ask you about your family?" I asked nervously tapping my pencil. A line formed between her eye brows, and she asked "What do you want to know?"

"I don't know..." I contemplated, and decided to ask a simple question. "Are you all related?" They couldn't be; there were too many of them, and they each had variously different appearances. "Oh," she laughed. "No, we aren't all related. Well, some of us are, but we're all adopted by Carlisle and Esme Cullen."

"You're all adopted?" I asked. "That's a lot of teenager's to adopt." She laughed again. "Yeah, you're telling me. Esme couldn't have children though, and she always wanted to. They're rather young to have so many children anyway. Oh, and Carlisle is the new doctor in town, by the way."

"Oh, that sounds really nice of them, adopting all those teenagers. So what about your sister's and brother's ---?" I asked, but my question was interrupted by the teacher beginning class. We didn't talk about her family anymore after that; just regular things. Class went by quickly and before long it was time for next period. I ran into Hannah and Landon again.

I smiled at them, trying to make sure and make eye contact with both of them, which was tricky because how much their heights contrast each other. "Hey" I said. "Hey, what's up?" Hannah asked.

"Nothing much, really. I'm just really glad it's Friday."  
"Oh, I know. Thank god it's Friday!" she smiled.  
"Well our class is right here" said Landon.  
"We'll see you later." Hannah said waving.  
"Bye," I said as they turned away.

They walked into their classroom, holding each other's hands. I found myself smiling like an idiot after them. They were just so adorable together. The cute little things they'd do together would make me involuntarily smile until I realized what I was doing. It's happened way too many times to count.

I went to my own class and sat down. The school announcements were on the TV, and Landon was sitting at the news desk. An upbeat song was playing, and the two anchor men of the day (Landon and another boy) were dancing to it jokingly and badly, while technicolor editing affects flashed over them, changing the colors of the video. I laughed to myself and began doodling on my paper when someone started talking to me.

"So, Adalia, have you decided if you're going to come to the party tomorrow?" Would he ever let it go? I turned towards Shawn, and said "No, I'm not planning on going to the party." I really wasn't, I had a bad feeling about it. I don't fit into that crowd anyway.

"Ohh" I heard Sophia laugh evilly. "I think she's too afraid to party with the popular kids." she said to Shawn. Then to me, she said, "I guess you really weren't meant to fit in." God, she makes me angry. I couldn't give in to that though; I knew what she was trying to do.

"No, I don't _want_ to fit into your group, Sophia. I don't care about popularity. It's idiotic and after high school is over no one will give a shit about how popular you were. Besides, I'd rather find people _worth_ having friendships with." She looked angry, and then forced a laugh. "That's what you tell yourself, isn't it? Everyone wants to be friends with us."

"And that's what _you _tell yourself, am I right?" I told her. I continued, "Oh, and that's not true. Trust me on that." I really didn't know where all the confidence came from, but I was glad for it. It was worth it getting to see her face. I'd probably regret it sooner or later, though.

Everyone was watching, and they had listened to the whole conversation. No one defended her or disagreed with me. She looked around the room expecting some assistance, but got none. She looked mad and embarrassed. She gave up, folding her arms to her chest and sinking into her chair like the drama queen that she was.

I was surprised she hadn't run her mouth with some kind of come back. She just pursed her lips and kept quiet. After a while, the hype over the new kid's came up again. Like clockwork.

Sophia began, "So, I did some research..." which translated into spying. She continued, "And I've found out more about the new kids. Their dad is the new doctor in town, and most of them are adopted." All of them are adopted, I wanted to correct her.

"But to get to the point, most of them are together. As in, they're dating each other, so they're all taken. Except for one. His name is Demetri Cullen." she said, smiling. I could tell what that look on her face meant. She was going for the kill, going to try and reel Demetri in and wrap him around her finger.

"He's so hot! And he's Spanish. His accent is so sexy." she continued. I couldn't help but feel offended. 'Sexy' didn't serve him justice, and it insulted me that she couldn't find any better adjectives to describe him than that. She leaned in toward her listeners, and half whispered "I have a plan. I'm going to have him; he's mine. I think that's only fair for me, being the future homecoming queen, to have the boy I know will be king." I had to hide my face, I was disgusted by that. She's so terrible and her god complex makes me want to go strangle something. Or throw up; her ridiculousness really worked the gag reflex.

Her friends just nodded encouragingly, and she said, "He'll be mine before homecoming." I really hoped she was wrong, but I knew he'd probably be like every other boy here who wouldn't pass up a chance with her. Most boys couldn't resist her. She just treats guys like pieces of property.

Lunch came around, and I walked with Kayla to sit at our new seats. Our friends Emma and Ashley were there today this time. They've missed everything so far about the new kids, so naturally, when they noticed the gorgeous table of new students, they had to ask about them. Me and Kayla explained everything we knew, and they couldn't take their eyes off of them.

Then in the corner of my eye, I noticed Sophia standing up and watching the table determinedly, and then she strutted over to the table and bent down at the edge next to Demetri confidently. "What is she doing?" asked Emma, clearly as annoyed by her as I was.

Today, he was facing toward the table, so I could see his face this time. She began talking to him seductively, but he looked unimpressed and bored, to say the least.

He moved his lips and said something back to her with an uninterested expression, and then she looked surprised, and began talking again. He shook his head and said something else. Eventually she just stood there in a daze of confusion and then stomped off dramatically like a diva. Had he turned her down? I really hope so.

Ashley laughed, "_Denied_." Emma laughed with her. "She's really a piece of work..." she shook her head in disgust."She deserved that." I looked at the table, and watched Demetri. He didn't watch her leave.

--------------------------------------------

During art class, Demetri and I made no conversation. He never talked at all to me the entire time. It seemed like he started to try and avoid me again; it reminded me of when I sat next to him at lunch yesterday. It bothered me. Did he hate me that much, that he couldn't even talk or look at me? I'm not going to talk to him either. I'd rather not waste my, or even his, precious time by trying to talk to him. It wouldn't do any good anyway, even though I wanted so badly just to talk to him.

I went to my car again, looking out for people glaring at me. Instead of glaring though, the Cullen's (I assume that all of their last names are Cullen), just looked detached as I walked by them. They looked like they were trying hard not to make any contact eye contact with me, trying to ignore me.

Not because they thought I'd talk to them, but because they didn't want to reveal their feelings to me. It was like they were trying to cover their true emotions with a mask. After school I did barely anything. I watched some movies on TV while my dad was at work and before I knew it the day was over.

The next day I chilled at home. I had called Kayla to see if she wanted to do something, but she had to work. Then I remembered it was Saturday, and the offer to go to the party was still available. But I knew I couldn't, or better yet, shouldn't go to it. I had a bad feeling about what might happen there. Whatever it was that would happen wouldn't be good, I could just feel it.

Later, I decided to go out and get something to eat. Dad was working again, so I was responsible for getting some food tonight. I parked my car and got some food at a little old restaurant in town. All of the buildings here were really old, and there weren't many of them. Most of the time, if you wanted to do anything interesting, you would have to cross the bridge separating Rainier, Oregon from Longview, Washington.

After I ate, I walked outside, and I got the chills. I felt a strange feeling that someone was watching me. I looked around nervously. I didn't see anyone, but I could still feel someone's eyes on me. I started walking down to where I parked my car.

That's until I noticed a figure rushing away in the darkness. I don't know what got into me, but I decided to follow it and see what it was. I turned into a darkened alley way, and I got frightened and started to back away as common sense finally hit me hard. I really shouldn't be exploring dark alleys, looking for someone who was watching me in the night. That wasn't a very brilliant idea.

I started to turn back, but then I felt a hand tap me on the shoulder. I jumped and my heart beat accelerated. "Boo." said the person who tapped me, but I couldn't see their face. Then something was pulled over my head, blocking my sight. I was about to scream, until I felt something hit me in the head, hard --

--------------------------------------------

I woke up in a drafty, creaky old house. I looked around, the house looked like a tornado had went through it, and it was barely standing up on its own anymore. One wrong move and the house would come crumbling down to the ground. There was moss and plants growing onto it everywhere. It looked like they were slowly trying to take it over.

Then I heard a female talking. "This isn't what I meant. I just wanted to do a practical joke; a prank. The plan was that you would assist her in committing social suicide, and then she'd want to hide her face from school forever. I never said anything about bringing her here or tying her up like a hostage..."

That's when I noticed that I was sitting in a chair. My mouth had tape over it and my hands and feet were tied to the seat. I wanted to scream, to get someone to come and help, but I knew where I was. I was in the middle of nowhere in an abandoned old home that was said to be haunted. If I screamed, the only people who would hear my cry for help would be the ones who did this to me.

Most people were afraid to go inside of this house, either because of it caving in on top of them or because of the myth that it was haunted. I've never been inside before, either. "Chill out. I've got this under control" said a male voice slurring his words. "No, this is ridiculous. I'm not going to take the fall for you when you get caught. You could probably go to jail for something like this." she said nervously.

I recognized her voice, but I was too dizzy to put the pieces together and remember who it was. "It's fine, Sophia..." said the males voice. Sophia was involved in this? I knew she wasn't a very good person, but I didn't think she was _that_ bad. She has sunken to an even lower level than what I always thought she was capable of. She's outdone herself.

"I'll do what you wanted me to, alright? You'll have your prank, but I've got to do my part of the plan..."

"And what's that? Why does it involve her being tied up?" He paused, and then said "That's my business. Now you go. You've done your part of the deal, leave me to do mine." After a moment of quite, she said "Okay, fine. But don't do anything that would be considered a crime."

I heard footsteps, and then as they ended a door closed. Then I heard more footsteps getting closer and closer. I saw a shadowed figure in the door way, and I knew his eyes were on me. I was scared to death, and this October night was a bit chilly, so I was shaking. I didn't know what would happen, but I felt a strange feeling that it would be bad; very bad.

The figure came closer, every footstep making my heart beat accelerate more than before. Then the figure came into the moon light, and I could see his face. I squinted my eyes and was shocked. He looked like Shawn, except older and more intimidating. He looked less like the annoying boy I've went to school with since kindergarten, and more like a man that was dangerous, and determined. He wobbled around a little, I could tell he couldn't walk or see straight. Oh, god; I hope he isn't drunk.

As he got closer, I realized that it really was him, and I let out a short gasp behind the tape covering my mouth. He chuckled, and then paced back and forth in front of me. "Adalia." he said grinning. "I told you that you should have gone to that party. It would have saved you a whole lot of trouble. Now you don't have the luxury of this being done in public." His words were slurred, but confident.

What made this so frustrating was the way he looked at me, so much differently than any of the expressions I've ever seen him make before. That and the fact that I couldn't move or talk. I had absolutely no power in this situation at all. "You're probably wondering what I'm doing, aren't you?" I just stared, trying to make my expression blank. He went on, "Well, I'll tell you." he said pointing into the air and talking with his hands.

"You see, Sophia doesn't like you." No kidding. "And she wanted to play a prank on you and humiliate you... that's when she came to me."

"She didn't want it to be too bad, but I talked her into this elaborate plan, and she got into it for the most part. She took over some of my original ideas and skewered and turned them into an evil genius plan that only a mean girl could come up with."

"Besides calling you crazy, everyone has always said that you're incredibly prude." he looked at me. "She thought that the only real damage we could do would to make you have the reputation of being the polar opposite; a whore."

Then he laughed "Well the plan for that won't go too well, since you're not at the party. How can we make you look like you're being a whore if you're tied up? It would obviously look like it was done without your consent. _I'd _end up having the bad reputation, and I think you know what that would be as."

"So I don't know what I'm going to do for that now. As for _my _plan, well I have a friend who wanted to see you, is all. That's why I brought you here."

He looked like he was thinking, and then said with a snicker, "But, as for Sophia's plan, I couldn't go breaking a promise, now can I?" He clumsily walked over to me, tripping over his feet. He was definitely wasted.

He fell into me, and laughed. "This isn't exactly what we had in mind, but I guess we'll do and say we did?"

He leaned into my ear, and whispered, "Oh, and if you tell your daddy, you'll wish you were dead." My dad was a lawyer in this town, and, had he known, he wouldn't rest until he sewed him of all his worth. I moved my head away from him, and I could feel the tears start to fall. Oh, god, this is not good.

My heart beat picked up again, as he traced my lips under the tape, and then ripped the tape off of my mouth and kissed me hard. I screamed from the pain from the tape being pulled off, and he got on top of me.

He pulled away, and then said, moving his hands down the side of my face. "You know..." he moved his hands down to my chin, then my neck. I knew where this was going. His hands traced further down my neck, and then I gasped in horror right before he paused where I was afraid he would have violated me.

I still felt violated. I had no power to stop where I knew this would go, which was much, much further and worse than that.

He finished, "you're really not bad looking. You're actually... hot in a cute and weird way."

I barred my teeth, and spit at him. "You're sick, you disgusting bas --"

He interrupted, "No need for name calling, little girl. You have a dirty mouth; I think you should be punished." He leaned in for another kiss, and I felt like I was being suffocated under him. Oh, god, I'm going to die here. I wiggled around furiously, trying to get my head away from him.

"Stop! Get off of me you asshole!" I screamed. He continued to suffocate me, and his hands started to go under my shirt going further up. Then I bit his lip so hard that I could taste his blood, and I almost threw up. I kept on biting into his lip with as much strength as I could muster, until he ripped himself off of me and flew into a wall screaming.

"Ouch!" he screamed, blotting his wound with his finger. His finger and his lip were covered in red. "You little bitch!" He blotted his lip a few times more, and then he started back for me again, with a furious and dangerous look on his face. Oh, god, he's going to kill me.

Then there was a ripping sound coming from the wall that got louder and louder. Shawn stopped and he looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Then I realized what was happening. The wall that Shawn threw himself into was falling apart. The old abandoned house was finally caving in, but we were inside. It felt surreal, and the walls began to break apart, letting the second story of the house to fall over us.

I screamed, and suddenly I felt something untying me. Then I felt like I was soaring through the air weightlessly. The interior of the house flew by me, and then I was sitting outside on the ground outside the house.

I looked around confused. How on earth did I get here? With one quick turn of my head, I jumped at the sight of an unconscious Shawn laying yards away from me. The house was demolished; flattened to the ground. How was it possible that, 30 seconds ago we were inside of that house, and we weren't part of the rubble?

I began searching for something or someone. Anything that would explain what had just happened. I turned my head and noticed something, and then I turned my head back towards it. There was a figure leaning against a tree, casually. It was too dark to see his face, but I could tell it was a boy, and he looked familiar.

I just stared at the figure, until it finally started to walk towards me. I jumped at the sudden movement. When they finally came into the light, I knew who it was. "Demetri?" I asked, a million different emotions running through me. Some of them being shock, surprise, relief, and confusion. He still looked as gorgeous as ever.

* * *

Thank you for reading, and if you review, thank you for that, too. =]

Go to my profile for links to visuals for the creaky old house.

I hope that this was realistic and not well, ridiculous. I'm not sure what Shawn and Sophia's plan was, because I didn't know what to do for it. I think maybe they had options as to what they'd do, but Sophia didn't want it to go too far. Shawn did take it too far though, and since Adalia wasn't at the party it kind of screwed up their plans/options. Thus he brought her to the house because he was under the influence and if he brought her to the party, it would be clear that she wasn't there by choice.

I'll try and get the next one up soon, it's a little short compared to my other chapters but I wanted to leave it at a good cliff hanger.


	6. Aftermath

**Get Your Money's Worth by: Anarbor**

Natures first green was gold,  
always still the hardest one to hold.  
We wont celebrate to forgive,  
I wont ask you where have you been  
We crashed like twin tumbling towers  
We rebuild because we believe in  
vampires but we're the last of a dying breed  
I got friends that are good enough for me

You gave me the sun and I gave you the light  
Give me the moon, I'll give you the night.  
I'd do for you what you'd do for me  
You can ask for anything.

We saw the coasts go to war.  
We saw the west fall to her knees.

So get your moneys worth.  
You're my anchor when I sail.  
I hope you wont wonder too far from shore.  
You're my anchor when I sail.  
I hope you wont wonder too far from shore.

You gave me the sun and I gave you the light  
give me the moon, I'll give you the night  
I'd do for you what you'd do for me  
You can ask for anything.

Ooooh ooooh.  
Ooooh ooooh.

Dawn went down today.  
Nothing gold will ever stay.  
So I fell asleep last night with my eyes wide open.  
I could feel myself sleeping  
but I wasn't dreaming.  
And then I found the meaning,  
just when I thought the waves were over  
I was swallowed by my pillows  
and drowned in my bed.

You gave me the sun and I gave you the light  
give me the moon, Ill give you the night  
I'd do for you what you'd do for me  
You can ask for anything.

________________________________________________________________________________

"Demetri?" I asked, a million different emotions running through me. Some of them being shock, surprise, relief, and confusion. He still looked as gorgeous as ever.

"Yes." he answered, his face unreadable.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, my voice shaking.

Then he looked like he was trying to fabricate an answer, and finally said "I... was in the neighborhood."

I didn't believe him.

"No, I mean, why did you come _here_?"

He forced a smile, and said "I heard screaming, so I came to help."

I laughed, how could he have done that, gotten us out so fast? Actually, maybe I didn't want to know, but I asked anyway.

I was still a little shaken up by what had happened, so my voice wasn't so even. "This house is far from the road, and it's old so there aren't many 'neighbors'..."

I continued, "And how could _you _have helped us? The house was falling on top of us, and less than 30 seconds later I was on the ground out here..." I felt dizzy again.

Then Shawn started to move around a little, and suddenly Demetri's face became angry. He was fuming.

"We should leave right now, before he wakes up." I didn't completely understand why, because he couldn't have known what he was doing to me in there. But I had to agree, I didn't want to be here when he woke up, I hated that boy with a passion now.

He helped pull me up off of the ground and led me to his car on the street. I got in, even though I had no idea where he was going to take me. It didn't matter to me, and for some reason I knew I could trust him.

He started the car, and then looked at me concernedly. "Are you okay?"

My voice was still shaky, and I said, "I'm fine." He looked unconvinced.

"You don't look fine." He started. "What was that Shawn kid doing to you?" He asked, getting angry by just saying his name.

My face probably fell at the thought of it too. I didn't really want to remember about that, about what could have happened. "Nothing." I said, looking down.

Then he looked frustrated, and came to a stop sign. He took my arm, and lifted it in front of me, showing it to me. I hadn't noticed it before, but I gasped when I seen deep purple spots were forming here and there, mostly where the tape and rope had been. He must have tied me up tight.

He let it drop, and then looked at me condescendingly, and said "I don't know about you, but _that _doesn't look 'fine' to me."

I looked down at my arm in my lap, and then looked up when I felt him pushing my t shirt off of my shoulder, revealing a deep cut and glass stuck inside of it under my sleeve. I hadn't noticed that until now either, all I could feel were emotions, and I was numb to any pain. But now, the pain started to come a little bit, just peaking through.

"And neither does that." he said pained. I didn't know how I got the cut, but it was more than likely when the house was crashing down on top of me. A piece of glass must have fallen and punctured my arm.

"I know you're not being honest about what happened, and I'd like to know the truth. But then again, if I did I'd feel much more obliged to go back there and do something about it." he started driving again, and he looked like he was fighting with himself.

Like even if he didn't know what happened, he still knew enough to 'go back there and do something about it.' I could only imagine what that meant, and it frightened me a little. Not for me, and certainly not for Shawn, but for Demetri.

Suddenly I remembered how he never answered my question, so I changed the subject. "You never answered me; how could you have helped us?"

"I came in and pulled you out," he said, concentrating on the road and not looking at me.

"The house was falling in." I told him, arguing with his logic.

He looked at me then, and said, "No, it wasn't. You must be in shock, you're pretty banged up."

That made me mad, and my voice picked up, becoming more shaky and less controlled, even though I knew what I was talking about.

"No, I'm not _'in shock'_! That house was falling in on top of us, and then..." I started, and remembered the feeling that I was soaring through the air as the house came crashing down around me, so I shut up. If I mentioned that it would no doubt only legitimize his theory that I was in shock or imagining things.

He changed the subject, and said, "I need to bring you to Carlisle. He's a doctor." Then I realized I had no idea where he was going all this time. I didn't really want to go see a doctor, but I didn't argue. I mean, I had a piece of glass shard inside of my arm, and I needed to get that taken care of. He was right, I needed to see a doctor.

I was still mad that he was patronizing me though, I knew what I was talking about; I know what I saw. I wasn't just in shock, and I knew he was purposely patronizing me.

A few minutes later, we pulled into a long driveway twisting into the woods and ending right in front of a tall, beautiful Victorian mansion. It was grand and elegant, and very large. I didn't even know that there was a house this gorgeous in Rainier.

"Woah." I said out loud to myself. Demetri laughed, and said "Do you like it?"

"The house? Er, I mean mansion. It's amazing, and so extraordinarily beautiful."

"Thank you. You should tell Esme, she picked it out." He went to the door and began opening it.

"Esme...?" I asked, but then forgot what I was asking when I seen the interior of the house. The foyer was all white, with two staircases turning and leading to the next floor from opposite sides. It looked like something straight out of a fairy tale. The room was decorated with red and white roses in beautiful vases set all over the place, completing the old fashioned elegant look of the exterior.

I felt my jaw drop at the sight; I'd never seen anything like it. Demetri chuckled, and I felt the butterflies come once again as he intertwined his arm into mine and gently guided me over the white tile's into another room. The living room, I guessed.

There I saw a woman and a man who were just as beautiful as the rest of the family. The woman had caramel colored hair, and a heart shaped face with gold colored eyes like the majority of the Cullen's. She had a slender but rounded build. She was extraordinarily beautiful, and had a motherly look to her.

The man looked like a model, with blond hair and gold eyes as well. He was muscular, but not as much as body builder physique. I looked up to Demetri, and he brought me closer to them as they greeted me. "Welcome, my name is Esme," the woman said with a warm inviting smile. I remembered then what Demetri said about 'telling Esme.'

"Thank you, my name is Adalia. It's nice to meet you, Esme." I said returning the smile.

"It's nice to meet you too, Adalia," she started and then realized why I was here when she looked down at my arm. "Oh, you're hurt? Well Carlisle can help fix that up." she said in a motherly and caring tone. She reminded me of my own mother.

Then the blond haired man that was named Carlisle spoke up, and said with a professional looking smile "Here, follow me to the kitchen and we'll see what we have here." He led me to the kitchen, which was very open and beautiful, much like the rest of the house. There was an island table and linoleum floors.

I didn't notice until I sat down on a seat that Carlisle pulled out for me that Demetri and Esme didn't follow us inside. Carlisle smiled and offered his hand for a handshake. "My name is Dr. Carlisle Cullen, by the way. I work at the hospital here." He looked young, almost too young to be a doctor.

He had a sophisticated and wise look to him though, so I believed him. After everything that had happened, I should have been more cautious, but I didn't care. He looked like he knew what he was doing and didn't look like a whack job.

"Alright, let's see what we have here," he said beginning to examine my condition. Demetri, Esme, and the bronze haired boy walked into the room, and I could see some of the other Cullen's in the foyer as the door swung open. He examined my heart beat and some of the other regular things quickly, and then moved onto my arms.

"Demetri, could you go and get some ice?" he began, and then lifted my shirt off of my wound. "And Edward, can you get my First Aid Kit?" he said professionally, not looking up from my arm. The bronze haired boy walked off quickly, and I realized I finally figured out what his name was; Edward.

The pain started to come back again; my arms were very soar, and I knew I was losing a lot of blood from the cut. I looked around the room and Esme was gone. The pain from the cut was becoming unbearable now, and I could feel my eyes water up a little bit.

Carlisle noticed, and looked concerned just like many people have lately. "Would you mind if I asked what happened?" he said politely. I contemplated how to answer him.

"I..." I began, "I don't mind, but I don't really know how to explain it." Then Demetri and Edward walked into the room with the things Carlisle asked for. Esme came in following them, with a wash cloth.

"I thought it would help to wash the cut with a wet wash cloth," she said.

"Thank you," Carlisle said to all three of them.

While he began working on my arm and put the ice on my bruises, he continued our conversation. "And I understand Adalia. You could start from the beginning though, if you wanted tell us about it."

I felt a little uncomfortable with all of these people who were such strangers to me. "I... well," I started, "It's a long story," I looked down nervously, and began tapping my fingers.

Demetri talked then for Carlisle, and said "We have time." I looked around at each of them, looking at me intently and anxious to know what had happened. I just blurted it out from the pressure.

"I was kidnapped and tied up in an old abandoned house in the woods, and it fell apart on top of us." I said quickly with no spaces between the words and talking with my hands. That wasn't the whole story.

Carlisle, Esme and Edward looked at me with a mixture of emotions; sympathy, caring, and unhappiness. Demetri looked unhappy and angry though. He let out a heavy sigh and muttered "You were kidnapped." He stated that, he didn't ask.

"And tied up in an old house..." Esme started. "Why?" She asked, looking at me carefully. I didn't exactly know why, myself. It was a cruel joke gone too far.

"I don't know for sure. I guess some of my classmates don't like me very much, so they thought it would be fun to play a cruel prank on me." I still didn't know what their original plan was going to be.

"That's terrible," she replied, shaking her head.

Demetri looked like he was getting angry and angrier by the second. "And they thought it would be a fun prank to kidnap you and tie up so hard you were left with bruises?" He said not understanding their motives and with no emotion in his voice.

The memory of being tied up to that chair and a drunk Shawn climbing on top of me trying to violate me came to my mind, and I cringed a little at the thought of that and how far he could have gotten.

"I don't know," I whispered.

Edward looked more angry too then, and grimaced in disgust, as if he knew the memory I just remembered. He joined the conversation, and asked "Why did they want to prank you?"

I really didn't understand why they were doing something to that extent, it's not like I've ever done anything that bad to either of them. I've kept to myself over the years, and the first and worst thing I've ever done to Sophia was on Friday when I got mad at her.

"I honestly don't understand why they did. They've never liked me, but I never thought they hated me that much."

Edward looked disgusted by what I was saying, as did Carlisle and Esme, but he looked like he knew more about what happened now. Demetri was fuming to himself in the corner, he was restraining himself but revealing his feelings.

"They're disgusting excuses for human beings." Edward stated, and then swung the door open and left. I just looked down into my lap, playing with my fingers nervously. By now Carlisle had gotten the piece of glass out of my arm and now he was cleaning it up.

"This cut is deep," he said, "You've lost a lot of blood." My shirt had blood stains all over it too. The thought of blood made me feel a little nauseous. "I think we're going to have sew this up," he said, and got out his things to do so.

"We're really sorry about what happened to you." said Esme.

"It's fine, and I'm alright, thanks to Demetri. If he didn't get me out of the house, well either way, I probably wouldn't be alive right now." I said, looking at Demetri. He returned my stare and smile grew on his face. My god, I loved it when he smiled.

Carlisle began to work on stitching up my arm. I winced a little bit, it really hurt. "I'm sorry if this hurts," he said.

"It's fine, it'll get better."

A few minutes later Carlisle was finishing up. "We're almost done here, Adalia." He said, he put on some finishing touches and then smiled and said, "Alright, you're good as new."

I moved my arm around and smiled back. "Thank you" I told him him politely.

Then the door swung open again, and Renesmee, the pixie girl and the brown haired girl came in. "Hey Adalia, are you okay?" Renesmee asked in a rush.

I smiled and said, "I'm fine, thanks to your family."

"I'm glad you're okay." said the pixie girl happily. "You keep getting yourself into trouble, Adalia. You really are a danger magnet." She laughed.

Everyone laughed a little too and I felt like I was missing some inside joke. The brown haired girl said jokingly "Hey, that's not funny guys."

Then she looked at me and said, "I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Bella Swan."

I took her hand to shake it, and said "I'm Adalia. It's nice to meet you."

Then the pixie girl introduced herself, "And I'm Alice" she said happily.

I took her hand too and said "It's nice to meet you too. Thank you for the other day again, by the way." I said smiling at how excited she was.

Then I remembered it was getting late. "What time is it?" I asked.

They looked at the clock on the wall and Renesmee said "It's about midnight."

"I should take you home" Demetri said.

"Yeah, I really should be getting home now. Thank you everyone, and it was great to meet you."

"It was our pleasure." said Carlisle. They all said goodbye, and I waved at them as Demetri guided me back outside to the car. I shivered when I got outside, because I only had my t shirt on.

"Are you cold?" asked Demetri, obviously noticing my shivers.

"A little, but I'll be fine." I answered.

He began taking off his jacket. "No, you don't have to." I told him.

"Here," he said as he covered my shoulders with it. I would have given it back to him and sworn I'd be fine, but it smelled like him, and I couldn't reject his sweet scent.

I put my arms through it and snuggled against it, but it was cold. I didn't care though.

"Thank you," I told him after we got in the car.

"For what?"

"For... saving my life after what had looked like the inevitable end to it. I probably would have died tonight. And thank you for bringing me here to be fixed up, and lending me your jacket."

He smiled, and said "It was no problem."

I smiled too. He looked like he started thinking of something then, and began, "So, are you ever going to tell me what happened in that house?"

My face fell, and I sighed. "Nothing happened."

"I can tell that something happened, Adalia. Would you please just tell me? I want to understand, and to hear it straight from you. I understand if you don't want to talk about it, but..."

I sighed, and just started from the beginning. "All I remember was going out to eat something, and then in the parking lot someone grabbed me and knocked me out..." then I remembered my car. "My car is still in the parking lot, I have to go and get it." I said, changing the subject.

"I'll go and get it after I take you home. I think you need to get home as soon as possible. I mean, that is if you trust me enough with your car." he joked. It was funny because I did trust him with my car. I trusted him with my life. Besides, their family had a bunch of expensive cars, they had no use for my cheap Jetta. I'm probably way too trusting of a person.

I sighed, and then agreed. "Alright, but I expect to see that back tonight." I joked. He smiled and then said "Your wish is my command." I laughed more and smiled more than I usually do. There was just something about him that made me smile more than I ever have before. I snuggled myself into his jacket and inhaled the smell of him.

"So, you were saying?" He asked.

"Oh, yeah. Well, um, I woke up in the old house. I heard Shawn and Sophia talking, and she sounded nervous and upset. Apparently their plan didn't involve going that far, as to kidnap me and tie me up. She left, and then Shawn came in. He was drunk. He talked to me for a while and then..." I grimaced at the memory, and I didn't really want to finish.

"Then what?" he asked, and he looked angry, but also sad and expecting. Like he knew what I would say but wanted to hear it for himself.

"He... well, started trying to..." I began, "rape me." Demetri's fists clenched up a little bit, and he asked behind tense teeth "Did he?"

"No, no he didn't. Thank god. He probably would have, or even killed me in the process, but I bit his lip as hard as I could, and he threw himself backward. That's when he knocked himself into the house and it started to cave in. But then... I don't even know exactly what happened, but we were saved from being part of the rubble." I talked really fast and talked with my hands, explaining the story nervously.

His fist loosened up but the tense and angry expression on his face remained. He was shaking his head in disgust, and looked at me like he was trying to detect an emotion in my face. He probably could have. I hated Shawn, and I was afraid when I was at the house. I was afraid for what he would do to me.

"I'm sticking by my theory of the house falling on top of us though, I know what I saw. I know you got us out too, but I just don't know how." I told him. I had my theory's, but I knew that would involve me bringing the crazy superstitions back into my life, and worse of all: voicing it.

He laughed a little bit at my sureness. "And you're sure about that?"

"Yes, I'm 100% sure." I told him, and then he looked at me like he was expecting me to ask something else.

"What?" I asked.

"Aren't you going to ask me to explain how I got you out? That's the typical response to something like that." he said.

"Oh. Well, I don't know if I want to know, actually. Are you admitting that I'm right?"

"Not necessarily."

"I take that as a yes."

He laughed a little bit, and suddenly his face grew more serious. "We really shouldn't talk to each other and be friends."

I was completely confused, especially as to why he thought so. "What are you saying?" I asked.

"I'm saying that we shouldn't be friends. I don't think ---"

I cut him off, "Oh, I get it. You don't want to be friends with me, is that it? You're trying to say it nicely, but you really---"

Then he cut me off this time, "What? No, I don't even understand what you're talking about. It's not you, Adalia, it's me; I actually mean that, not as a cliche breakup line."

I laughed, "Hah, right." I felt my eyes begin to tear up. They always have to come at the worst of times; when I'm mad or sad, and I couldn't ever control them from falling.

"I honestly meant that." he said, trying to reassure me, he looked thoughtful of the way I was feeling.

"Can you just take me home?" I asked looking away with a tear running down my cheek.

He sighed, and said "alright, but please don't be upset. I'm very sorry."

I wanted to believe him and accept his apology but I knew I couldn't let myself. It would only lead to me getting hurt if I let my guard down.

"Where is your house?" he asked monotonously.

I told him the directions to my house and he followed them.

When he pulled into my driveway I said "thanks," and opened the door to leave. Before I could close it though, Demetri said "I'll bring your car by later."

I nodded and turned around heading towards the door. I looked back and we watched each other for a moment before we parted our separate ways.

When I closed the door, I immediately felt the tears I was trying to hold back begin to fall down my cheeks. I've been crying so much lately.

My dad was looking at me relieved, angry and concerned inside of the house. I really couldn't wait until people stopped looking at me so concerned, it made me feel pathetic.

"Where have you been!?" he asked. "I tried calling your cell phone over one hundred times and I got no answer. I've been so worried."

The tears still fell, but I was trying to control it so I could at least see and so I would believable. "I'm fine, dad."

He gave me the same condescending look that Demetri had when I told him the same thing. He obviously noticed the bruises, tears and my bloody shirt sleeve. "Adalia, for god sakes! You look like a mess, and you have bruises and blood all over you..." he said in a fluster. Then his expression softened, as he asked hugging me into his arms "What happened to you?"

I couldn't tell him, not now. I couldn't explain it right now. "I'm so tired dad, can I please go to bed and tell you about it later?"

He contemplated, and then sighed in defeat. "Fine, but you need to tell me tomorrow. No exceptions."

"Agreed." I said as I began walking away as he stared after me with a pained and caring expression on his face. I felt bad leaving him there with no explanations, but I couldn't tell him with out breaking down in water works right in front of him. I just wanted to crawl into a hole and... sleep. I was going to say 'die', but that would be over dramatic.

I made my way to my room and fell onto my bed while crying a river. I've fought the tears so often lately, and it felt good somehow to just let them fall freely.

Eventually, I cried my self to sleep, and began dreaming of something different than nightmares of the man in the woods. I was having dreams now; of Demetri.

___________________________________________________________________________

**I hope that you liked this chapter. It was fun to write, because the Cullen's had more of a leading role in this one. I'm planning on possibly writing some of it in the Cullen's point of view eventually, so y'all can get some more of the vampire clan that you all crave in this story. This may be an "O.C." story, but it's not 100% different characters. The Cullen's are main characters in this. **

**Thank you for reading. Pleaseeee review! I want to know who my readers are and what they think, so make sure to let me know! =]**

**Again, check out the song in the beginning. I didn't know what song to use so I just put that one up. Anarbor is an amazing band, and they are one of the ones who actually write back on myspace. Make sure to listen to them, they're great.**

**Thanks again for reading and (hopefully) reviewing. =]**


	7. Emptiness

**Stop This Song (Lovesick Melody) by: Paramore**

You say the sweetest things  
And I can't keep my heart from singing  
Along to the sound of your song  
My stupid feet keep moving

In this 4/4 beat  
I'm in time with you  
In this 4/4 beat  
I would die for you  
(Die for you)  
Someone stop this

I've gone too far to come back from here  
But you don't have a clue  
You don't know what you do to me

Won't someone stop this song?  
So I won't sing along  
Someone stop this song  
So I won't sing

I never let love in  
So I can keep my heart from hurting  
The longer that I live with this idea  
The more I sink in

In this 4/4 beat  
I'm in time with you  
In this 4/4 beat  
I would die for you  
(Let's stop this song)

I've gone too far to come back from here  
But you don't have a clue  
You don't know what you do to me  
I've gone too far to get over you  
And you don't have a clue  
You don't know what you do to me

Won't someone stop this song?  
So I won't sing along  
Someone stop this song  
So I won't sing

Your lovesick melody  
Is gonna get the best of me tonight  
But you won't get to me  
If I don't sing

It creeps in like a spider that can't be killed  
Although I try and try to  
Well, don't you see I'm falling?  
Don't wanna love you, but I do

(Lovesick melody)  
Won't someone stop this song?  
So I won't sing along  
(Lovesick melody)  
Someone stop this song  
So I won't sing

Your lovesick melody  
Is gonna get the best of me tonight  
But you won't get to me  
No, you won't get to me  
Cause I won't sing  
____________________________________________________________________________________

I woke up the next day with a feeling of bliss. The dream was beginning to fade away from my memory, but I could still remember that they were good dreams. They were about Demetri and I. When I slowly came back down to earth, I remembered what Demetri had said last night; he didn't want to be friends anymore.

That realization hit me hard, crushing my once happy and blissful attitude. Just like every other dream I had ever had, it was just a dream, and no matter how much I wished it could be real, it would never happen.

Why can't I just forget about him? I can't help but think about him, but that's what makes me frustrated and mad at myself. Why does my mind have to make it so hard to just let him go, even when I never had him to start with anyway? I always want what I can't have.

I groaned and then pulled myself out of bed feeling empty, which is something I've felt more times to count in my life. It was Sunday morning (or more like afternoon. What can I say? I love to sleep in), and dad was home today. I brushed my hair and teeth and then walked towards the inevitable 20 questions I would get from my dad.

I walked into the kitchen, where my dad was getting lunch. I walked nervously towards the pantry to get out some cereal and milk from the fridge. He noticed me before I even made it to the pantry, and just eyed me suspiciously before breaking the silence. "I do recall you promising to explain what had happened last night."

"Oh, right, I did promise. Umm, well, where do you want me to start?" I asked.

"From the very beginning, and all the way through, not missing a detail." he said professionally, almost like he was collecting the story from a witness for a trial.

"Okay..." I began as I poured the milk over the cereal in my bowl. "Last night I went out to get something to eat. The last thing I can remember was that before I got to my car, someone pulled something over me and knocked me in the head. I must have been unconscious because I woke up in a drafty old house that looked like it would fall apart at anytime. It was that old abandoned house on that old property, you know what I'm talking about, right?" he nodded, and he looked upset at the idea of me being inside of that house, and of course the concept of me being kidnapped.

"Anyway, I was tied up really tight to a chair and there was tape over my mouth. Then I heard voices of a girl and a guy arguing. The girl sounded nervous and unsure. Apparently the two were concocting a "prank" against me, which went way to far because of the guy..."

I didn't want to mention their names to him, because I was sure that he'd know who I was talking about. As I've said before, in this small town, everyone knows everyone.

"You were tied up? Is that how you got those bruises?" he asked sitting up angrily and protectively before I could finish what I was saying.

"Yeah, that's how I got the bruises." I said. He still looked angry but he sat back into his chair so that I could finish.

"The guy brought me there, and he was drunk. They tried to get me to come to their party which was where their plan would have taken place, but since I refused to go, it didn't work out for them. I'm guessing that he got drunk at his party and then came and kidnapped me in a desperate attempt at keeping their plan going."

I was surprised at how even my voice was while I was saying this. It felt like I was telling another persons story, something that didn't happen to me. Last night my voice was uneven and shaky, but now I could keep myself controlled.

"The girl didn't want things to get that far, but he convinced her that he had things under control, and she left him there with me. He came in, and explained things to me a little bit and then..." I didn't know if I should finish and tell my dad what he tried to do to me.

I didn't know if I should lie and jump to the house caving in and say I had no idea what their plan was. I hated lying, but I knew how mad he would get. He would probably try and get Shawn thrown into jail, and more than likely succeed. I didn't want that much attention drawn to me or what had happened.

I decided to lie. I knew it was wrong to lie, but I didn't want to make Dad more upset about this. Any dad would be furious to know that their daughter was almost a victim of rape.

I sighed, "The house started to cave in, but someone got us out. The guy who helped get me out brought me to his family's house..." Well, mansion, I thought to myself. "and since his adopted father works at the hospital now, he fixed my arm. I think that while the house was falling in on itself, a piece of glass must have fallen and punctured my arm." I finished, saying "Then he brought me back here."

He looked like he didn't know what to think. There was a hint of anger, but also of confusion and, as always, concern. He looked sad for me, and worried. He brought me into a hug to try and comfort me, I guessed. "I'm so sorry this happened to you, you don't deserve any of this." he said.

"I'm fine now, dad. It's all over now and if it weren't for the Cullen's, I'd probably be dead right now. I'm very happy that they were able to help me."

He pulled away and looked at me. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm perfectly fine."

He thought for a moment and then said "Who did you say the boy who saved you was? You said he got you out while the house was falling on top of you?" I could see the questioning look in his face.

"Oh, yeah. He got both of us out, actually. I don't know how but he did."

"Okay..." he said thinking, and then moved on. "Who was this kid? You said that he brought you to his house so that his father who is a doctor could fix up your arm?"

"His name is Demetri Cullen, and he and his family are new in town. His father, well not biologically because he was adopted, is the new doctor here at the hospital."

"Cullen?" he asked, skeptically?

"Yeah... why?"

"Oh nothing, I've heard about them. I have yet to meet them but from what you've said, they sound like nice folks." he smiled.

He thought again, and his expression darkened. "What did you say about these two who did this to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, who were they?"

I was nervous again, I didn't want to tell him who exactly did it. I couldn't stand more attention being brought to this. "_Oh, and if you tell your daddy, you'll wish you were dead." _Shawn's words went through my mind again, reminding me.

"I don't want to make a big deal about this, dad. I don't want to draw attention to the situation, at least not right now." I told him. I was probably being foolish, but I just had a horrible feeling about telling him. I couldn't tell him.

"But they might do this to other people, Adalia. They aren't safe if they have no problem with kidnapping innocent girls and tying them up in an old house that would fall a part while they're wasted." I knew that too, especially with what I hadn't mentioned to my dad about what he almost did to me. Shawn wasn't safe. Sophia was bad, but not as much as Shawn.

He continued, "I've seen things like that before. People who start out like that only get worse, and then become real criminals."

"I know, but can we just keep this on the down low for now? I know that it probably sounds stupid to you, but I just really don't want to get into it. You know my reputation at school, I don't want that to be even worse, or to even draw more attention to myself. Please, dad; just respect that."

He looked very mad and frustrated, and then he gave up. "Fine."

"Thank you," I told him.

There was moment of silence, until he changed the subject, saying "So what do you want to do today? Since I'm home I thought I'd spend some quality time with ya." he smiled.

I rolled my eyes at him, "It doesn't matter to me, I guess. Whatever you want to do is fine with me."

"We can go out and get some lunch?"

"Sounds good," I told him with a thumbs up sign.

We walked out into the drive way, where I saw my car. As promised, Demetri had brought it back. I had to fight a smile that was about to spread across my face.

--------------------------------

The rest of the day I was left wondering about the Cullen's, about Demetri. A small part of me wondered what happened to Shawn and Sophia too, but I didn't want to think about them. School tomorrow would be torture. Having to sit near Shawn and Sophia will be terrifying. I've never skipped before, but I was almost considering skipping that class. I knew that I'd have to face them eventually though, I can't skip forever.

The next day I went back to my regular day, but it felt weird after all that had happened over the weekend. I met up with Kayla and Natalie before school started. I wore a jacket to cover the enormous bruises on my arms, because I looked like I was abused.

"I want Demetri so bad." said Natalie. I swear, she is the most boy crazed girl to walk the planet, and it only made me more frustrated that she had to talk about Demetri. I just wanted to forget about him.

"Everyone does," said Kayla.

The whole time my face was expressionless, I was just trying to control my rage.

"Well that's because he's so gorgeous." Natalie replied rolling her eyes. I'm really starting to dislike people who think that way. The whole world is turning shallow and doesn't give a flying crap about inner beauty anymore. You can't know if you want someone enough to have a relationship with them if all you can see is what is on the outside. I rolled my eyes, but didn't realize that until they both looked at me questioningly.

"What?" I asked, hoping they didn't notice me rolling my eyes. I didn't want to start that.

"Why did you roll your eyes?"

"Oh... nothing. It's just that... well, that's all people care about anymore; outer beauty. Inner beauty doesn't count for anything anymore."

"Oh... kay." said Natalie, as if what I said was strange to her.

There was an awkward silence and then Kayla broke it. "What happened to you Saturday night, Adalia? I tried to call you but you didn't answer. I found your car abandoned in the parking lot later that night too, so I got worried."

Oh crap, what am I going to say? I need a cover story, or something. How could I explain everything to her? Well, I actually wouldn't mind telling Kayla, I trust her more than most people. It would be nice to tell someone... but I decided not to. Onto Plan B, "Cover Story."

"I... accidentally locked my keys and my cell phone in the car, so I had to search for someone who could get my car unlocked." That wasn't exactly lying. I did leave my phone and my keys in the car, but I didn't lock them inside.

"Oh, okay." she said, but didn't seem fully convinced.

The bell rang and we went to our classes. In science, I sat down next to Renesmee a little nervously.

"Hey, Adalia." she smiled.

"Hey." I was a little confused, she obviously didn't share Demetri's opinion on not talking to me.

"How are you feeling today?" she asked, and I got the message. She meant, how are you feeling after everything that had happened.

"Physically or emotionally?" I asked.

She thought a moment, and then replied "both."

I thought a moment, because I hadn't actually thought about that before. "Physically, I'm fine, I guess. The bruises are still there and painful. and the stitches hurt sometimes but other than that I'm fine," I began.

"Emotionally, though, I'm not so sure. I just have a confusing mixture of emotions." I told her. In some ways I was a mess, trying so hard to forget Demetri like he probably already had, but failing miserably. Every time I'd think of him or someone would talk about him admirably I'd start to admire him too, which would just make me hate him and myself for being so pathetic even more.

Then I was afraid of facing Shawn and Sophia today. I just can't shake the fear of what almost happened. When it comes down to it, I was quite literally almost raped and killed, and/or part of the rubble of an abandoned old house in the woods with my offender.

Thinking about Shawn and Sophia then makes me more thankful for Demetri. Being thankful for Demetri, however, makes me feel a sudden sickening feeling of sadness, because I then thought about how he didn't want to talk to me anymore. Thus, all of this just became a terrible cycle of emotions that would never end.

"Oh, I'm sorry." she said thoughtfully studying my expressions.

"What are you sorry for?" I asked.

"I'm sorry for what Demetri told you. He really did have good intentions though, he thought it would be best for you. It's probably hard for you to see, but I see it everyday. He's not being selfish, he's just being stubborn."

I was suddenly confused, how could he possibly think it would be better for me not talking to each other? What would be so bad about us talking to each other? In the back of my mind, I could remember how the Cullen's all had so many similarities to the man in the woods, but I shoved that thought deeper into the back of my mind.

"I... never mind. I don't get it. I'm just so sick of people running away or pushing me away. I'm not toxic."

"No, that's not why he said that. He's pushing you away, but not for himself."

"I don't understand, why would he do that for me?"

She sighed and then said to herself under her breath, "He just doesn't get it." Class started, and the conversation was over before I could ask her to elaborate.

The day went by faster than I would have hoped, bringing me to face my fears sooner than I wanted to. I walked into my class, not looking around to meet Shawn, or even Sophia's eyes. I was just going to pretend that they weren't there, hopefully they wouldn't try talking to me.

The teacher began class, and even though I tried not to look up, the teacher was showing us something on the board that we had to copy down, and I had to look up. Sophia would sometimes glance over at me and she looked frustrated and confused. Shawn, however, would look straight at me glaring.

I felt the chills run through my spine, because I recognized that look. It was the same look that he had when he was advancing towards me after I bit his lip. The menacing, killer expression that made me finally realize that he had a drunken vengeance against me for it. Shawn's lip had a huge scab over it where I bit him. He also had his arm in a cast.

Sophia wasn't only looking at me though, she was looking at Shawn too. At him, her expression changed to angry and frustrated. I wondered if she knew what had happened.

When lunch came around, I tried not to look at the Cullen's at all. Many of them were looking at me today though, and their expressions were similar to the first day they were here at lunch. Demetri had his back facing me.

------------------

Three Days Later (Thursday):

Demetri and I didn't talk at all the past few days, and he went on like he said and didn't talk to me. His artwork was coming along great, and everyone was curious as to what he was drawing but he wouldn't elaborate.

I was glad that he didn't talk to me, it would help me let it go. A small part of me wished more than anything that he would give me the time of day though. That small part hoped that he'd change his mind. Realistically, though, I knew he wouldn't.

The beginning of the day went boringly, and I felt more alone than ever today for some reason.

Lunch was awkward. I sat talking with Kayla, Emma and Ashley, and the topic of our conversation had to be what I wanted to talk about least of all; the Cullen's.

"So what's with this Demetri guy? All the girls here want him, yet he never talks to anyone except his brothers and sisters. He could get any girl he wanted but he chooses not to socialize with anyone." said Emma.

I hadn't known that I wasn't the only one who he didn't talk to, and for some reason it made me feel better. I started to sink into a daydream about when he told me he thought we shouldn't talk anymore. He was so beautiful, it was hard to be mad. I really don't understand why I was so attached, but that's probably because I let my hopes get too high.

From the beginning I wanted to talk to him, and I somehow felt at home with him, as crazy as it sounds. I felt like we shared things in common, that I could share things with him that I couldn't share with anyone else. Of course, that was just ridiculous, I barely knew the guy.

All of a sudden what had once comforted me wasn't working anymore, I felt a sickening and empty feeling in my stomach again. I let out a little whimper that was too low for anyone but myself to hear, and sunk into my chair and put my head into my arms on the table.

I was drifting off, the sounds I heard around me drowning out. I was almost completely in my little world until I heard a voice cut into the mix of other voices say "Are you alright?"

I assumed it was Kayla, Emma, or Ashley so I lifted my head up towards the voice. "Yeah, I'm.." I began drowsily, until I realized it wasn't one of my friends who asked, it was Bella. "I'm fine, just a little tired..."

I couldn't help but be confused why she came over to see if I was okay. I took in the expressions on my friends faces, and they looked interested in why she was over here too.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yeah, why?" I asked lifting an eyebrow.

"Nothing, I..." she started, and then looked back at Demetri, who was looking at her like she had gone insane. "Can you come with me, I want to talk to you." she urgently but friendly.

"Alright..." I said slowly and skeptically. "What about?" I asked.

"I'll explain that in the hallway, you don't have to if you'd rather not but I'd like to talk to you in private."

I scrunched my eyebrows together, and ignored the confused and interested looks that my friends were giving me. I accepted, and followed Bella outside into the hallway. As we were leaving she smiled victoriously at Demetri, and Edward looked at her with a puzzled expression. Demetri looked like she had just betrayed him, not a worthy of death kind of betrayal, he looked more annoyed and nervous about what she was going to do.

"So, what do you want to talk to me about?" I asked her when we reached the hallway.

She bit her lip and pondered nervously. "Demetri." she said not sure what she should say.

I felt a pang in my stomach again when she said his name, and the emptiness came back. "What about him?" I said coolly, as if it didn't bother me. I could hear my voice uneven though, so I didn't succeed.

"He's being stubborn with you. We all know that he has nothing to worry about, but he won't listen. I was actually trying to lead him out here to talk to you himself..." she said, looking in the direction of the lunch room expectantly.

"What?" I said a little too loudly. "You know, I think I'm going to peace out, I have to finish my lunch..." I started, but then Edward came out to meet Bella.

"Bella, dear, what are you doing?" he asked sweetly. I then noticed once again how beautiful this family's voices were.

"I'm trying to get Demetri to talk to her. We've all talked about this and he has nothing to worry about."

"You're right, he doesn't have anything to worry about." he said looking at me. "But I think that we should let him deal with this himself."

"I want him to..." she began, but then Edward looked towards the lunch room door. He said quietly to Bella, "He's coming out here."

As Edward predicted, Demetri walked out into the hall way. I held my breath without knowing it as he walked out. I looked down, trying to avoid looking at his beautiful face.

"What did you say to her, Bella?" he asked.

"I didn't say anything, except that you're being stubborn and that you won't listen to us." she told him innocently.

He looked at me then, and said "I'm sorry Adalia. I wish you'd understand why I don't think we should talk..."

"We don't even understand." muttered Bella. He sighed exasperatedly at her comment.

"I don't understand in the slightest." I told him.

He sighed again, and said "I just think that we shouldn't talk, but it's for you. It's nothing personal against you; me, on the other hand..."

"And that's where you lost me."

"I told you, Adalia, it's for your own good. It's not that I don't want to talk, I'd love to get to know you better. I just can't do that to you..."

"Do what, Demetri? What's so bad?"

He stopped a moment and thought. His expression grew grim and pained. "You wouldn't understand. There are a number of reasons..."

I saw Edward roll his eyes at Demetri from behind him, and then he moved forward and grabbed Demetri's shoulder. "Can I talk to you, Demetri?" he said.

I tried to look away as they talked to each other, and I couldn't even hear them anyway. They were talking too quietly.

After a while of them arguing in front of me quietly, I just decided to let it go."You know what? I don't even care anymore. Why should I? It's not even like we talked anyway, I was just being ridiculous."

Demetri looked away from Edward and at me, taken aback. "I'll see you around." I said, turning away to leave.

"Wait, Adalia... don't..." he started from behind me. I never looked back to see what he was saying or to see if he was following me. He wasn't.

I really don't know what got into me though, why it was such a big deal to me that he didn't want to talk anymore. It was ridiculous. My hormones and my girlish fairytale fantasies are probably just in overdrive.

I probably unconsciously thought that maybe, just maybe he could make me happy. Maybe, he'd be like my prince, the way he strode in and saved the day when I was facing certain death. The way he scooped me out of the house and then brought me away on his trusty steed (well, car, actually). Maybe I was just being delusional, and I didn't even realize what I was thinking.

Things like that don't exist outside of a fairytale. Happy endings don't happen unless you're living in a utopia world. Perfect guys who love you more than anything and can make you feel alive again, are a rarity, and I'm not even sure true love even exists anymore.

Well, I guess you can safely say I'm a pessimist, but I have a hard time believing anything so wonderful can happen outside ones imagination. If it did, I know it would never happen for me.

That's why I should forget Demetri, because it will just destroy me. I can't have those girly fantasies that interfere with my common sense bring me down again when they prove to not be reality.

Art will be a hoot.

I walked back into the lunch room for the last few minutes of lunch, and immediately all of my friends eyes were on me and they began asking questions.

"What did they want?" asked Ashley.

"Nothing"

"That's too vague of an answer. Edward and Demetri walked out there too, it must have been something." said Emma.

"It's nothing, really. It's no big deal." I told them.

"She doesn't want to tell us..." said Kayla.

I rolled my eyes, and said "It really is nothing. Nothing worthy of gossiping about happened out there." Then the bell rang, dismissing that lunch period.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Thank you for reading, and _please review_ and let me know what you think! I will love you for ever if you do, and I'd love to know what you all thought. Reviews are what keep me going and writing more. **

**I kind of didn't want to end it there, but ah well. I've got a few things I want to bring up. It's been taking a little longer to write this due to the fact that I've gotten addicted to drawing pictures of people the past few days. I just started art class and I've come to find that I can actually draw pretty well so far. ****I might try drawing a visual for the story, if I can do it well enough. **

**Also, I'm thinking about updating my profile soon with links to more visuals.**

**As for the song in the beginning, I'm sure most of you have heard of Paramore, with them being on the Twilight soundtrack. If not, check them out, and if you haven't heard the song check that out too. If you have heard them and love them a whole bunch like I do, then kudos. =]**

**Anywho, I'm probably rambling. I'll try and get the next chapter up asap.**

**Adios amigos. =]**


	8. Restart

**Fall In Love by: See You Soon**

Coming so close to me now you're a part of me  
You're everything that I could not explain  
Now I want to show you what I've always tried to be

So can we just fall in love  
I see home in your eyes and  
You will always be my best

Waiting for so long, for too long now I confess  
I've tried to find you in so many ways and I've failed  
Now we're on fire and I'm so calm  
I can finally rest in you

Baby I don't care how far away you are  
Baby I'll be there when the sun goes down and  
I will never let go  
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

It was time for art class now, and I was dreading it. I didn't know whether to feel ashamed for being rude to Demetri, or to still be angry. When class began, every student got their supplies and got to work on their projects. At this point, I was still drawing my locket with my mother wearing it. I wanted to make her look like an angel, like she is right now, with her pale blond hair and complexion.

Demetri was hard at work, using a wide range of colors of pastels to draw abstract splashes of random color surrounding a motif of a face that he drew. The colors blended together in some parts beautifully, and his talent made me begin to doubt my ability to do very well on this project.

Once in a while, when he thought I wasn't looking, I'd catch him looking at me. He didn't look at me in disgust, or like I was crazy; he looked at me like I was an amazing mystery to him that he admired. The look in his yes when he looked at me made my stomach twist into knots and into butterflies. I'd have to look away so it wouldn't get the best of me.

He never talked to me though, and only sneaked a glance at me once in a while. I was starting to run out of patience for this boy. The thing was, I wanted so badly to just let my guard down and talk to him, and that urge was incredibly overwhelming.

Somehow, I was able to let my common sense win this time, and I didn't talk to him. It was almost impossible to do, but somehow, I did it. Part of me loved him so much I couldn't understand why or comprehend it, and the other part hated myself and him for feeling that.

I didn't understand myself, and that made me more frustrated that I couldn't pin point my emotions or what I wanted. Once again, my emotions were spiraling out of control and I didn't know myself well enough to comprehend it.

I cursed in my mind at myself, and at everything else running through my mind. Suddenly, Demetri started to chuckle. I turned around to face him, puzzled by why he was laughing. Then he suddenly looked nervous and embarrassed. "You... seem like you daydream a lot." he said.

"Is that why you were laughing?" I asked, with an eyebrow raised.

He chuckled again, and said "Yes, I suppose that was why."

"How can you tell that I day dream a lot?" I asked.

"You look like you're in your own world, staring off into space."

"Oh." I said, and I could feel my cheeks turning red. I looked down, trying to hide my rosy cheeks, until I felt his cool hand lift my chin up and his fingers brush gently across my cheeks tenderly. That was it, my common sense was untraceable now. I felt my stomach begin to flutter furiously with butterflies, and I felt like I would flutter off with them.

I involuntarily felt myself lean my face into his fingers, and I felt chills and warmth run through my body all at the same time. That was until he jerked them back, and I suddenly regained my better judgment.

I was completely flustered now, with myself and with him. Why did he have to tempt me so much? He has no idea what he does to me; my heart was beating faster and my breathing was once again complicated. He was playing with my emotions, while probably not even realizing that he was.

I just stared dumbly, and then he picked up what was behind my expression. He looked regretful now, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that."

"But, why?" I asked. I can guarantee no one touches someones cheek like that for no reason, so I was confused as to why he even did it.

"I don't know." he said, looking straight into my face. Then he looked away from me, as if he was embarrassed and resentful of himself.

The bell rang suddenly, and I picked up my things quickly, not making sure I had everything. I bolted out the door and to my car before I could let myself look at Demetri again. I couldn't handle it anymore, feeling that way around him, wanting so badly just to be with him as anything _but_ this. Especially when he did something like that; I could almost feel the butterflies start up again just thinking about it.

I felt like crying, screaming, something. I pounded on the steering wheel without much force, and then started the car up and drove away. When I was almost home, the engine suddenly started smoking and sputtering. "Dammit!" I yelled at the car, as if it would do something.

I struggled to get the car to drive all the way home, and it barely made it into the driveway. It broke down. I got out to check the damage. I lifted the hood even though I had no clue what on earth I was even looking at or how to fix it. I groaned and began poking around at the engine to see if I could point out something that was wrong. I couldn't. "Stupid freaking car..." I said to myself.

Suddenly, I jumped as I heard a car door closing in my driveway near me. I looked back, crouched over my car with hair over my face, and my lips parted in astonishment when I saw who it was. Demetri. My jaw was still lowered, and my hair was still in my face as I looked at Demetri though it, my expression not changing. He looked at me unsure, and then simply said, "Hi."

"Hi," I replied, uncertainly.

"You left your art book behind when you left." he said, handing my notebook to me.

"Thanks," I said grabbing my note book and keeping eye contact with him. After lookingat him for a few seconds more, I turned around and continued where I left off with my car. I still had no idea what I was doing.

I expected him to turn around and leave, but he just stood there. "Car trouble?" he asked, amused.

"Yep." I told him, not taking my eyes off of my car.

"Adalia..." he began. Something in his voice made me look up from what I was doing and look at him. "What?" I asked.

"Do you need a ride tomorrow? You know, with your car not exactly being in a drive-able condition at the moment." To confirm his statement, and add a comical twist to it, the car made a loud sound and a puff of smoke came out. It reminded me of something straight out of a comedy TV show.

Yes, I thought, but bit my tongue before I could say it. I knew I couldn't, because I'd just fall deeper in whatever this was that I felt for him and not be able to go anywhere with it. It would become unbearable, not being able to be friends or talk to him.

"No, that won't be necessary." I said, and began to force as much friendliness into my words as possible. "I think I'll just get a ride on the cheese wagon tomorrow morning..."

"Cheese wagon?" he said amused, raising an eyebrow at the term.

"You know, like a bus; the color of cheese..." I told him, embarrassed and trying to explain.

He laughed, and his eyes had a sort of little twinkle in them. Wow, he was beautiful. "Well the ride on the 'cheese wagon' won't be exactly necessary either." he said, still chuckling at me.

I changed the subject, and said "Why are you here, Demetri? You dropped off my things, and now you're free to go and not talk to me like you said."

His expression changed, and then looked sorry and regretful. I felt bad for being so harsh. He thought a moment and laughed lightly. "I think, that maybe my family has finally changed my mind."

That caught me off guard. "What?"

"I don't know..." he said, unsure again.

"You.... changed your mind? Are you kidding?"

"No.. I am not kidding." I just shook my head at his answer in disbelief and frustration.

"I'm sorry Adalia, that probably sounds horrible, I'd completely understand if you didn't want to talk to me anymore now."

I couldn't help but accept his apology, but I shoved that aside. "You," I began, shoving my pointed finger at him accusingly, "are the single most confusing boy I have ever met."

He smiled and chuckled a little to himself but quickly became serious again. "I apologize for that, really, I do. I couldn't agree with you more, I'm even confusing myself. I have no idea what I want, and there are so many emotions I've been feeling since I met you and don't know what to do with them."

I felt all my rage and confusion freeze. "That's exactly how I feel..." I said, astonished. He smiled, "We may have more in common than that."

"What do you m--" I started, but was cut off by Demetri.

"I have to go now though, I'll talk to you later, if you'd like." I didn't know what to say, so I just kept looking at him dumbly. He smiled at me again genuinely, and then said "Adios." He hopped into his car and drove away. I just stood there looking in the direction that his car went in until it disappeared.

-----------------------------------------------

The next day, I walked to the bus stop. I listened to my Ipod on the way there, until I noticed a yellow bus drive past me and slow at the bus stop further down the road. I began speeding up, and then started running towards the bus.

"Wait!" I yelled, hoping that someone on the bus would hear me and have the bus wait for me to catch up and get on. All of a sudden while I was running, I tripped over a large crack in the road, and went flying forward, crashing into the ground.

The bus drove away. I gave up, letting my body rest completely on the cold ground. This was just my luck. "_You really are a danger magnet,_" Alice's term for me came into my mind. Slowly, I began to pull myself up, until a new, nice and sleek black sports car that I recognized pulled up next to where I was on the sidewalk.

The window rolled down, and Demetri talked to me through it. "Are you okay?" he asked.

I laughed, and then said sarcastically, "Just peachy."

He laughed, "I told you that I would give you a ride. Get in."

I looked around, and then accepted and got into his car. We didn't talk for most of the ride. Eventually, Demetri looked over to me sadly and said with his irresistible accent, "You don't want to talk to me anymore, do you?"

"What? No, I mean, I don't know. I'm just afraid that..." I began, and bit my lip when I realized I might have been saying too much, or that he might not understand what I meant or even cared, for that matter.

"What are you afraid of?" he asked.

"Do you promise that you will try to understand, even though I make no sense? And will you promise that if you think its stupid or something, you won't laugh?"

He laughed, uncertain what I was talking about. "Sure, I promise." he said.

"Pinky swear?" I asked, holding my pinky out.

He looked at me and his eyes twinkled as he laughed. I loved that, there weren't any words to describe how much I loved it when he laughed like that, he looked so incredibly gorgeous, I felt like I was going to melt. It felt great to be the source of laughter, especially his, and I appreciated that feeling because I've never really considered myself a funny person, intentional or unintentional.

He twisted his pinky finger around mine, his much larger than mine, because I had such small hands. "I pinky swear," he smiled. We shook our pinky's as they were intertwined, and then let go.

"Alright..." I started, "I'm afraid that... well," I continued, and put my face into my hands. "Gosh, this is hard for me to say, but... I'm afraid that you won't always be there, and if I get attached then it will be excruciatingly painful for me if you were to stop talking to me later."

He just looked at me sympathetically, and then said "That makes sense, and I don't think it's stupid..." He started to look like his mind was wandering off, and his expression darkened and saddened in pain.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's nothing, I'm just hoping that I was wrong, and my family was right. If I'm right, I wouldn't be able to live with myself..." he said, but it seemed like it was more to himself than to me.

I just looked at him, as if I could uncover his mystery by doing so. "Demetri, besides being the most confusing boy I've ever met, you're also the most... _mysterious_." I said, making a face at 'mysterious.' "Everything you say just leads to more questions..."

His attention was back on me now, and he said "It's probably best I stay that way."

I laughed, "Speaking of what I was talking about, you've just added more mystery and questions."

He smiled a little despite himself. I wasn't paying attention to how close we were to school, and then I realized we were pulling into the parking lot. We walked in with each other, and I saw his brothers and sisters in the parking lot too.

Bella, Alice, Edward and Renesmee all looked satisfied, but the burly boy and the blond haired boy looked concerned and nervous about the gorgeous, furious blond girl next to the burly one. She looked at us in disbelief and anger, and I remembered the way she looked at me the first day they came.

I looked away, because I didn't want to stare or let it get to me. Demetri noticed her glaring too, and then looked back at me. "Don't worry about Rosalie, she's just..." he began, and then tilted his head to the side, fabricating an answer. "PMS-ingtoday, I guess? Don't worry about her." I laughed at his awkward use of the term, but I knew that wasn't the truth, not even in the slightest.

I took one last glance at the Cullen's before walking inside, and had to smile at Alice, Bella, Renesmee and Edward's excited expressions. My friends were also in the parking lot, looking at me and Demetri with shocked and excited expressions.

"So, is this a permanent thing, or will I have to worry about you not wanting to talk to me sometime later down the road in this friendship?" I asked him once we were inside, attempting at saying it jokingly, but I don't think it really sounded like a joke.

He took it seriously. "I don't think I'm strong enough to not have it be a permanent thing."

"And that was yet another puzzling thing that you have told me. I think I'm going to start keeping track."

He laughed, "I'm sorry I confuse you so much."

"You should be." I joked. "Okay, but seriously, you won't run away, will you?" I said, seriously, my face saddening a little at the thought. I so didn't understand myself.

He smiled, "No, I won't. I'm actually more afraid that you'll run away from me."

I stopped, "Why would you be afraid of that?"

"The same reason why I didn't think we should be friends." he said. I didn't push it any further and ask him to elaborate for me. "You really are a puzzling person, Demetri."

I walked with him to my locker where we went our separate ways. After surviving the horrid smell around my locker, I went to talk to my friends at our usual meeting spot. Surely enough, they bombarded me with questions. I remembered how they seen me and Demetri this morning.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but did you come to school with _Demetri Cullen_ this morning?" asked Natalie.

"Oh, yeah. You are correct."

"How did you manage that?" she asked, astonished.

"He asked me yesterday if I wanted him to give me a ride, since my car broke down. I said no, and was going to ride the bus, but that didn't work out and he showed up soon after and picked me up."

"He wanted to pick you up that bad?" she asked, and I could see the jealousy in her eyes.

"I suppose so..." I said, awkwardly. The disbelief in her face was clear. She shook her head and looked away from my face. "How is it that you, of all people, could talk to him when he talks to no one." she said more to herself than to me.

I was taken aback at how she said "you, of all people," but I couldn't agree with her more. I really didn't understand why he wanted to talk to me. This made me feel incredible, like it was some sort of a miracle.

I was pleasantly surprised when any boy showed any interest in talking or being friends with me, but this was Demetri, the drop dead gorgeous boy that every girl wanted to talk to but couldn't. My happiness was escalating to unmeasurable amount. He really was a puzzling creature.

"Thanks for that..." I said, noting how she referred to me, "and I don't know."

She just shook her head in disbelief some more. The bell rang soon after, and we went to our first hour classes. In science, Renesmee was glowing with satisfaction.

"So you and Demetri are friends now?" she asked happily, probably already knowing the answer.

"Yeah, I'm assuming so. Unless he decides not to talk to me again." I said trying to joke but failed miserably.

"I don't think he will, Adalia. He seems like he wants to be friends with you too much for that. He wants to get to know you." I couldn't help but feel my stomach soar with butterflies and happiness to hear that. He wanted to know me, like I want to get to know him. I could only hope he wanted that as much as I wanted did.

I realized that I was involuntarily smiling, and Renesmee smiled back.

------------------------------

At lunch my friends were watching me and Demetri.

"So I hear that you got a ride with Demetri to school today?" said Emma, expectantly. She said it as if it was something she has been wanting to ask all through lunch so far.

"Yeah..." I said, awkwardly. She looked excited, and intrigued by my confirmation.

"Seriously!?" she said in disbelief and excitement. "That boy won't talk to anyone!" She nudged me and continued, "How did you get to be the only person in school that he'll talk to?" she asked. The way she asked it wasn't the same as Natalie, she asked it with absolutely no trace of bitterness or envy at all. She was excited and happy, and didn't appear to be faking it.

"I really don't know." I said, my cheeks turning red. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Demetri smiling at me. I couldn't help but smile back.

-----------------------------

Art class came around and Demetri welcomed me by smiling and pulling out my chair when I came in. I couldn't believe that he'd do that. It only happened in old movies, when men knew how to be proper gentlemen. Guys nowadays could care less, and never did cute things like that.

I sat down, and said "Thank you."

After a while of working on our projects, I asked him, "Will you promise to answer something for me?"

He looked skeptical of what I was talking about. "Sure, I promise."

"What are you drawing?" I asked, looking at his paper.

He smiled mischievously, "That, I won't tell you."

"You promised." I reminded him.

He sighed in defeat, "I'll tell you another time, is that okay?"

I looked up to the side and contemplated. I sighed, and said "Alright, I suppose so." I smiled.

"Can I ask you something?" he said.

"Sure," I said, curious what he wanted to ask me.

"Do you want to hang out this weekend?" he asked nervously studying my reaction.

"You want to hang out with me?" I asked, a smile growing on my face at the idea of _him _wanting to hang out with _me_.

"Yeah." he smiled, "I think if we're going to try this, being friends, that we should start over and get to know each other."

The smile remained on my face, I wanted that more than he knew. "Yes, I'd like that." I said looking down shyly trying to hide my enormous smile and my reddening cheeks.

He smiled back genuinely, and gently lifted my face up higher to meet his eyes. "I'm glad."

I smiled to myself more, my cheeks probably similar to the color of a tomato at this point. Once I was able to control my smiling, I asked "When and where?" I hoped that it would be soon, I didn't want to wait for that day for too long.

He looked up and squinted his eyes. "Ummm..." he began, ponderinga moment. "We could do something today, if you'd like?"

I concealed my eagerness to hang out with him that soon, and said "Sure, what time and where?"

"Well you still need a ride home, so maybe we could just hang out after school?" he asked. Twenty more minutes, even better. I could hardly conceal my enthusiasm.

"Alrighty, what do you want to do?" I asked.

He smiled, "We'll think of something."

-----------------------------

After art was over, we walked out to the student parking lot. Alice and the rest of the Cullen's were also in the parking lot, and she was happy and waving at us. The rest of the Cullen's expressions were pretty close to the typical.

Once we were in the car I began to worry, what were we going to do? I was so afraid that I'd be boring to him, that I would screw this up. This was it, we were hanging out, no near death experiences with drunken kidnapper/rapists and crumbling old houses involved.

The only time before that we had ever been together just the two of us, was a time I didn't quite want to remember or think about, and didn't exactly qualify as good times. Here we were about to be together by choice, and I could easily screw it up.

I was nervous, what happened if I did something or said something completely ridiculous and awkward and made a fool of myself? What if he changed his min and came to his senses and didn't want to talk to me anymore again?

"Thank you for agreeing to hang out with me." said Demetri, breaking through my worrying.

"Oh, no that's fine." I said. Apologetically, he said "I would have completely understood if you didn't want to, after how I was to you before."

I felt bad then, and I wanted to comfort him. All of a sudden I realized that I couldn't be mad at him for that, he was too sincere.

"It's really is fine, don't worry about it."

He smiled, but didn't say anything. Instead, he turned on the car stereo and began to play a song on his Ipod. After it went through the intro of the song, I recognized who it was.

"Led Zeppelin?" I asked, surprised that he'd like a band from the 60's. Most kids now-a-days only listened to crappy music with no originality about 'hoes in da club'.

He looked pleasantly surprised that I could name the band, and nodded and said "Dazed and Confused," naming the title of the song.

"Awesome, they were a great band."

He smiled, "They definitely were, there was a lot of good music in the 60's and 70's."

"I own a record collection at home with a ton of music from those decades."

He looked even more surprised now, "Seriously? Most people download digital music now, illegally. No one even buys _CD'S_ much anymore."

"I like the old school way of listening to music. Do you want to see my collection?" I asked.

"Yeah, they're at your house right?"

"Yeah.." I began, and then started to dig my own Ipod out of my purse. "Do you mind if I turn on something on my Ipod?" I asked.

"No, I don't mind; go ahead."

I connected my ipod to his car stereo and began searching my itunes music library for something to listen to. As he was parking into my driveway I found it.

"Haha," I laughed evilly, "Here we go." I pushed play and the intro began to blare through the stereo.

"Ohhh," he said, recognizing the beat. "Sum 41?" he asked.

"Yeppp, Fat Lip" I said smiling and prepping myself to sing along badly to the lyrics.

_"Storming through the party like my name was El Nino. When I'm hangin' out drinking in the back of an El Camino. As a kid, was a skid and no one knew me by name, I trashed my own house party cause nobody came" _I began singing the lyrics badly and making faces and bad dance moves in the car to it. Demetri watched me and was laughing, until he joined along, intentionally singing badly just like I was.

_"I know I'm not the one you thought you knew back in high school. Never going, never showing up when we had to. Is it attention that we crave, don't tell us to behave. I'm sick of always hearing 'act your age'" _we sang badly, getting really into it and having fun with it.

_"I don't want to waste my time, become another casualty of society. I'll never fall in line, become another victim of your conformity and back down."_ We were dancing in our seats and whipping our heads around, trying not to laugh too hard so we could continue singing along.

We sang through the whole song somehow, and I could feel the excitement build inside me. I felt like a regular teenager, being obnoxious with her friends and enjoying every second of it.

"Woooo" we said, laughing so hard I could barely breathe. I could feel my eyes water up I was laughing so hard. Once we collected ourselves and could breath and I could see clearly again, we looked at each other happily.

"Good song choice." said Demetri laughing.

"It's a pretty good song." I laughed.

"So, are you going to show me that record collection?" asked Demetri with a kind of glimmer of happiness in his eyes I've never seen on him before.

"Yeah, come on." I said, opening the car door. He followed me to the doorway, and we walked into the house together.

**________________________________________________________________________________**

**Important: I changed how many day's have gone by. In the last chapter, instead of it being on Tuesday on the second half of the chapter, I made it be Thursday. In this chapter, it is Thursday afternoon and Friday.**

**Thank you for reading, and please review! Tell me what you think, good or bad. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but this is my very first story/fan-fiction. With reviews, I can only get better.**

**Sorry for the wait, I had to put more time into the conversations and planning of this one a little more than usual. I've been really busy lately and a lot of things have been going on. I'll try to get the next chapter up soon, but no promises. **

**PS. So, No Doubt is going on tour again (with Paramore), the first tour since their tour with Blink 182 back in 2004. And guess who else is back? Blink 182, dude! Amazingggg. =D **

**PPS. Read Vampire Diaries if you haven't before, they're amazing. In some ways, the series is better than twilight I think. It's similar to Twilight but more suspenseful and dark. It's not a twilight rip off though, it was originally written back in 1991. A new VD book just came out today (February 10th), and there are more on the way, many years after the last one came out. Also, the CW is apparently going to turn it into a TV show, and I believe that would be aired this Fall. **


	9. Closer

**More Than Worth by: Rene Velarde**

If only she could see what I see  
Deep beneath her mask of beauty  
To see how precious she really is

But beneath her smiles of safety  
Lies a heart that's barely breathing  
She's in need of love that never ends  
No matter what she says

But inside, She's not laughing  
She is not smiling  
She's desperately searching  
Only hoping  
That one day True Love  
Would be a truth

The rain is falling on her face  
Let her know she's more  
than what she knows  
Than what she knows

The walls are up  
Good luck getting them down  
Her spirits are as high as the ground  
She doesn't want you to know  
Though your there she still feels alone  
To feel alone when people are around  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Once inside my house, I led Demetri up to my room where I had my record collection.

"Jeeze, you have a lot, Adalia." He said when he saw the shelves of many vinyl records going across the majority of my wall.

"What can I say?" I said, walking toward the shelves, "I love vinyl."

He looked at me like he was amazed, interested and pleasantly surprised. I was leaning against my shelf, and Demetri began walking towards me. My heart beat was racing faster with every step he took. I wasn't sure why.

He looked at me thoughtfully, and smiled. I held my breath, forgetting how to breath for a moment as he reached his hand toward me slowly. No, beside me, I realized, as his focus switched from me to somewhere beside me.

He pulled out a record from my shelf. My breathing returned to me, and I almost felt like the wind was knocked out of me. He lifted the record in front of me, showing me the title. "The Who" the title read, another 60's band.

"The 60's was a great time for music," he said, as if he knew that I was thinking of the time period. "Shall we play it?" he said flashing a blinding smile. I almost forgot how to breath for a moment again. I was quickly reminded how much I loved his smile.

"Yeah," I said once I was able to regain my composure. "The turn table is over there..." I told him, pointing to a vintage desk that my turntable lay on top of. He smiled again, and turned toward the turn table. He took the record out of its sleeve and out it on the turn table, and then the needle. The melodies of The Who was soon filling up my room, and probably the rest of the house as well.

"So, what are we going to do?" I asked, walking towards him.

"I don't know" he pondered, "We could just relax and make conversation until we think of something, if you'd like?" I had no problem with that.

"Sure, make conversation about what?" I asked, truly wondering what we would possibly talk about. I've always been conversationally challenged; and I've come across quite my fair share of awkward silences in my life.

"How about... we just get to know each other? I don't really know much about you..." he said, but he looked like that wasn't the whole truth.

"What do you want to know?" I asked. He smiled mischievously. "Favorite food?" he asked, starting with the simple, basic questions that you'd find in some kind of profile survey on the Internet.

"Mexican." I told him, with no hesitation. I knew that one for a fact, it required no pondering or thinking about it.

"Hobbies?" he asked, with another simple basic question.

"Collecting vinyl," I said, using my hand to point toward my records and the turn table that was still playing music in my room. "watching movies, reading, drawing, playing the piano, attempting to play the guitar... and overall, just being plain old bored out of my mind." I smirked.

"The guitar?" he asked, his mood lifting a little higher than it already was.

"Yes, the acoustic, but only attempting. I couldn't play to save my life. I can play guitar hero... but that hardly counts as playing the real guitar."

"Oh," he laughed, "I play acoustic guitar. I could teach you, if you would be interested?" I was, but I wasn't. It would give us the chance to spend time together more, and an excuse for me to be close to him, but on the other hand, if I failed miserably I could easily make a fool of myself.

"Sure, I guess. But I'm no good; remember that. I have no musical talent."

He laughed, "Now you don't believe that, do you? I certainly don't."

"I do."

He laughed shortly again, and then said "When do you want to start?"

"When ever you do?" I said, but it was more of a question. I'm a very indecisive person, it would be hard for me to choose.

"This weekend?" he asked, which took me by surprise. I couldn't disagree with that, I wouldn't mind hanging out with him again so soon.

"I think that sounds alright to me."

We spent most of the night just chatting about unimportant things about our lives, which eventually led to other conversations that were completely off topic.

To my surprise, there was never a dull, boring moment, awkward silence or a time that I felt like an idiot because I said the wrong thing.

I could talk naturally to him, and be myself. I actually had a good time. I felt like, oh, this is going to sound ridiculous and Hollywood, but I felt like we connected, somehow.

I didn't have to try and put on a mask and hide my personality at certain points to make him like me more like I did with most people. This was a very liberating thing to me.

He went home later, and we made our plans to have our guitar lesson day at my place the next day. I couldn't be happier about this. I was thrilled to have the chance to hang out with him once again.

---------------------------------

The next day, I got ready for when Demetri would come by. My dad was at work, so he wouldn't be here all day. When I saw Demetri pulling into the driveway, I pulled my guitar onto my bed quickly, and flew down stairs.

I opened the door, and was almost surprised to see him leaning against my doorway nonchalantly with a guitar slung over his shoulder. " Ready for Guitar Playing 101?" he asked, giving one of his blinding smiles.

"Yeah, come on in." I said, holding the door open to let him in.

"Oh, no, allow me." he said, holding the door open himself and walking inside.

I led him back to my room like last time. I sat down on an armless chair to my desk, and he sat on the foot of my bed.

"Alright, where do we start?" he asked.

"I'd say from the beginning. I forget everything I've tried to teach myself."

"Okay..." he said, pondering in his head. "I'll start with the basics." He walked behind me, "First, you'll need to know the parts of the guitar."

He leaned in from behind me, and I could feel my hairs stand on end as he slowly reached over my shoulder, with his mouth inches from my ear, towards my guitar. "First," he began, and strummed the guitar strings. "We have the strings." he smiled yet another brilliant smile.

I rolled my eyes, "Very funny, but I do believe that I have at least _that_ basic of knowledge."

He smiled innocently, "You said start from the beginning..." he said, shrugging.

"Ha- ha." I said, with a very fake laugh. "Now go on, but please skip the _parts_ of the guitar."

"Fine," he said, amused. "Let's begin with tuning the guitar." Once again, I could feel him breathing on my neck as he had his arms almost around me, taking me step by step and fiddling with the tuning pegs, by heart beating so fast that I could barely concentrate on anything he was saying.

A teacher who made it that hard to concentrate on what they were saying didn't quite prove to be the best option. I didn't care though, I loved this feeling; it was thrilling, exciting, I could actually feel the endorphins being released.

Before I knew it, he was saying "Alright, are you ready to read tabs?" I almost had a laughing fit, because I was already giddy and high on endorphins, and because I had missed everything he had just said. I am such a horrible listener.

"Somewhat ready," I told him, which wasn't a lie, I knew what I was doing up until this point in my previous and failed self taught sessions.

He gave me a tab sheet and I began to strum the string while simultaneously trying to coordinate and match my fingers in order to the marks on the sheet. I was never very coordinated, and Demetri could hardly contain his chuckles as I proceeded with the process very slowly.

I was never a very coordinated person. Sports was the worst, I couldn't even dribble a ball or do a cart wheel. Gym class had always been a very humiliating time for me.

While I'm on the topic of athletic activities, I would have to mention that I haven't always been a lost cause. When I was younger, I was basically a tom-boy. Me and Oliver would play outdoor games all the time. I would even shimmy up the huge basketball pole in my bathing suit after taking a swim in the pool in our backyard.

My parents had always thought that I would, ironically enough, be the athletic one of the family. Boy, were they wrong.

I came back to guitar playing, struggling to focus. "Twink... -- move my hand toward a note and strum --- ... le, lit -- move my hand and strum-- ...tle, -- repeat moving my position -- .... star. How..... I..... won... der.... what.... you... are."

My impression of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star was pathetic at best. We continued the lesson slowly, and eventually I was capable of playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star smoothly, with out so many pauses to strum a new note.

We also went over a few of my other favorites, which didn't include children's nursery rhymes. I had a long ways to go, and an abundance of practicing to look forward to, but I was proud of myself. Something about Demetri's expression made me feel that he too was proud of me.

"Well, I officially know now that if you do ever come to your senses and change your mind, it will do some major damage to my pride," I said before I could even realize that the words were spilling from my mouth.

I looked up, puzzled by why I had even said that in the first place, and to see if by some chance he hadn't heard me. That was something I didn't want to admit to myself, much less Demetri. I barely even knew what I meant by those words, it was like someone else was saying my innermost thoughts.

What I saw showed that he did, in fact, pick up my ranting sentence. "What?" he asked, the look in his now saddened face causing my heart to sink. "It was nothing," I said quickly, as if it would help me avoid having to answer his question. I wanted to run and hide.

His expression darkened and saddened more, as understanding washed over him. "I'm sorry, and I told you that the reason was for your own good. I wanted _so_ badly just to talk to you, to be with you like we are right now. I'm not going to come to my senses and run away, not in the way that you're thinking it at least."

"Does that mean that you will change your mind?" I knew I was probably getting annoying with all of my questions related to this by now, but I needed to now this. I needed to know if I was setting myself up for disappointment by growing to be attached to him, especially this soon.

My feelings haven't changed on this subject; I was very still very much opposed to becoming happy, and then having it all ripped form under me with a simple change of mind.

"Not unless I find it necessary." he answered. All of my previous hope died with that one sentence, but I tried to remain calm and not appear to be shaken by this. It was pretty hard, because I felt like a ticking time bomb, and that sentence seemed to signal the last tick.

I let out a heavy, deep sigh, and threw my arms into the air, "You.... Demetri....." I said, searching for some witty comeback to throw back at him to get to the bottom of this. I didn't understand him.

"You make absolutely no sense to me, Demetri." I said, with a straight, serious face. "So, when exactly would this be necessary? Better yet, why would it have been better for me when you didn't want to be friends in the first place?"

He stood up now, towering over me. This was when I once again realized how small I was compared to him. He looked at me, his eyes portraying the inner commotion of sorrow inside of him. He looked so sad, I had to try to hold back my own tears just looking at his angel face this sad.

"I can't explain that to you..." he said, pensively, "You wouldn't understand..." he said, and then more quietly and to himself, "You just wouldn't understand." The look in his face made me want to reach out to him. He looked so tortured, by something that I had no idea about. I couldn't even begin to guess. My hand was reaching out to his hand now, until he yanked it back. He looked away, and was still and quite.

He was like a wall that I couldn't get behind, and I wanted so badly to get behind it. Because maybe, I could help him through whatever was causing him so much pain. I wanted to help him, whether or not he wanted me to or not. I knew, then, that even if he did run away from me, for whatever reason it may be, that I wouldn't stop trying to help him.

I didn't know what I could do to help him, but I had to try. Those eyes revealed years of pain that I couldn't even begin to understand or imagine. I didn't know exactly how I knew this for sure, but I just did. I also knew that I could help him, maybe we could help each other, but I would never ask him this in return.

I contemplated whether or not to start that right now, and to ask him to help me understand, but I decided it would be better another place and another time. For now, all I could do is not cause him any more pain, because it was clear that by me wanting explanations it only resulted in the pain to be renewed.

Then I knew what to do. Even though it was cheesy beyond belief, it was a proven fact that sometimes it was what a person needed at times like these.

Ignoring his lazy attempts at avoiding me doing so, I stood up and slowly walked towards him, tilting my head to the sides, as if it would help me get a better view at what was bothering him. I extended my arms out, and quickly grabbed him into a hug, as if he would try to run away when I did.

I felt myself sink into him, and I hugged him as lightly as I could despite the urge to hold on to him tighter and tighter. I held him comfortably close, burying my head into his chest. He looked down at me confused, but didn't ask what on earth I was doing.

I was so small in his arms, so petite and fragile next to him. Somehow though, I knew that with him, I didn't feel like it. In fact, with out him I felt small.

I felt his once tense body relax, and his hands were soon cradling my head as he held me too. He smelled so good, like something I couldn't put my finger on, but the best, sweetest smell I've ever experienced. We held onto each other gently for many long minutes, until we pulled a part from each other. He looked at me, and his sorrow filled eyes were now more calm and blissful.

"I should go now," he said, and my heart sank. He was picking up his things scattered in my room, and continued, "Should I come by tomorrow to finish where we left off?" My heart immediately went back to normal. "Yeah," I said, not bothering to hold back my smile.

He smiled too, as he swung his guitar back over his shoulder and began to head towards the door. Right before he opened the door to leave, he turned around and said, "Oh, and don't worry about me running away. As I said before, I'm more worried that you'll run from _me_. Promise me you won't worry about me changing my mind."

I thought a moment, and then said "I promise."

"I have to warn you though, if you were smart, you would stay away from me, for your own good. I'm not strong enough to stay away from you, and I've already tried."

A puzzle, a complicated puzzle, I thought to myself. Would I ever be able to understand him?

He flashed a dazzling smile that I loved to see, and said "I'll see you tomorrow," before he walked out the door.

I couldn't help but feel butterflies, he was such a darn mystery. But he was so perfect, not in the sense that he had no flaws, but in the human, flawed and realistic sense. Everything about him made butterflies flutter uncontrollably.

And then he _was_ a mystery. He had those walls up, the walls that were meant to keep people out. He must have had such a terrible, painful life. I had too, but I think he's suffered a great deal more than I had.

Everything he said was like a puzzle, a puzzle that you aren't meant to solve. He kept saying that he was afraid that I'd run from him, and that not being friends would be for my own good. Today he said that if I were smart I would stay away from him.

These were things I didn't understand, while at the same time the back of my mind was putting the pieces together, trying to force its knowledge to be known, but I refused to let that thought even cross my mind. It wasn't possible, I thought to myself, shrugging the thought off, trying to not even consider it. Maybe I really _was_ crazy.

---------------------

He came over the next day, as he said he would, and we went over more songs. He told me that I was learning fast, but you also had to consider that I've already tried learning on my own. I was too lazy about it then to learn how to play properly.

We didn't talk about yesterday, or about anything related. We only had comfortable, casual conversations, but I think that it's best for him for now. I was probably in over my head, because I was most definitely not any kind of therapist, but I felt that once I was able to break down his walls and he told me what was so bad, I could help him.

My depressing past didn't even concern me the way his did. I was still hurting from what had happened, more than anything, but it was infinitesimal next to his, I could just feel it. Sooner or later, I'd have to try and find out what was wrong.

Demetri was so sweet, and he made me feel happier than I've ever been. We didn't go out and do things, we were only together. I felt so _alive_.

After our guitar practice, he went home and I tried practicing by myself for a while.

Later, I felt like I was floating on a cloud of pure bliss when I walked to the kitchen, where I found my father sitting at the counter. "Hey, dad." I said cheerfully. He obviously picked that up in my voice, because he raised an eyebrow. Was it really _that_ obvious, am I usually _that_ miserable and depressing?

"You're in a good mood tonight." he said, eyeing me suspiciously. "What have you been up to?"

"I just had a friend over, Dad." I said, happily rolling my eyes at him.

"And what friend was this..?" he asked, still suspicious.

I thought a moment, and decided to tell him. "Demetri Cullen." I said, matter-of-factly.

He raised an eyebrow, "A boy...!??" he said, surprised and in the tone of any father when given the knowledge that their daughter was now hanging out with boys. I could almost see the wheels turning in his head as he thought about the name. "Isn't that the boy who saved you that one.... night." he said reluctantly, obviously not really wanting to bring it up.

"Yes, he was the boy who saved me," I answered, ignoring his reaction to the fact that he was boy in general.

"A boy..." he murmured to himself, involuntarily being unapproving of this detail. That was until he saw my expression, and said "Oh, sorry. I'm just not used to you growing up so fast."

A smiled a little to make him not feel guilty, "It's alright, I understand."

His worry came back a little, through he was trying not to. "I still don't trust boys with you though, be careful." he warned, completely serious.

"I'll try."

"I'm not kidding, teenage boys all only want one thing..." It didn't take a genius to know what that 'one thing' was.

"I'll keep that in mind, but I really don't think I have anything to worry about. He did, after all, save me." From a boy who was trying to do exactly what you're worried about, I thought, but he didn't know that.

He frowned, "You're right, and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I still want you to be careful though."

A while later, after I ate some food and was heading towards my room, my dad continued our previous discussion.

"I'd like to meet this boy, Demetri." he said, still serious about the topic.

"Oh," I began, "Well he's coming over tomorrow too, so I guess you could meet him then..."

"Tomorrow too?" he asked confused.

"Yeah, he's teaching me how to play my guitar."

There was a line still formed on his forehead, "Alright, I guess I should be happy that that guitar is actually going to some use for once. Just make sure to let me know when he plans on coming over tomorrow so I can make sure to stop by."

"He's coming after school, and probably staying until the evening." I said, letting him now earlier than he expected.

He looked a little surprised, "Okay, I'll make sure to be here." I didn't think he meant to, but I caught a glimpse of his face all scrunched up again. I'm going to end up give that man serious wrinkles, I thought to myself.

--------------

The next day I got a ride with Demetri again; my car was still not working. On the ride there we just listened to songs that we both enjoyed, blasting the speakers so loud that the whole street could more than likely hear. It was a blast, pun intended. I could feel the drum beat pound into my chest the whole way there.

When we arrived at school, my friends were in the parking lot as usual. They were even more surprised by my arriving with Demetri than they were the last time. Next to her car, I also noticed Sophia glaring at me and Demetri. I felt the chills run down my spine.

Demetri and I walked into school with each other, and then went separate ways like we had the last day we came to school together. I was rather smiley today as I walked to me and my friends usual meeting spot. They noticed immediately that I was happy, and could bet that they knew why.

"Ohhh, someone is in a happy mood today." said Kayla. Natalie didn't even look at me. "What have you been up to this weekend, Adalia? Hanging out with Mr. Gorgeous?" she continued.

"Yeah," I said blushing. "He's teaching me how to play guitar." She smiled brightly, genuinely happy for me. "But we're just friends," I said, quickly correcting any assumptions she may have made.

"Oh, of course," she joked.

The rest of the school day went by smoothly, and soon I was in the class with Sophia. She was still glaring at me, and the chills returned. I remembered then how she had once said that she would make Demetri hers. She must have made the same assumption as Kayla had, but was mad at me for it.

I wanted to deny it, tell her that I had no hold on Demetri. I didn't own him, we were only friends, whether that was all I wanted or not. I could live with it either way.

I didn't even want to give her that though, not after her and Shawn's cruel prank on me. Speaking of Shawn, I hadn't seen him in the last week even once. In the pit of my stomach, I was worried. I had a terrible feeling that he was up to something that wouldn't be good for anyone around here.

----------------

At lunch, Demetri smiled at me and looked at me from his spot on the opposite side of the lunch room.

"I told you that Demetri liked you, Adalia. He obviously has to like you enough to spend the entire weekend with you." she was going on, but my focus was on Demetri. I knew it was rude, but I couldn't help but loose my focus.

Minutes later, Demetri walked over to our table. I felt my heart beat accelerate every step that he got closer to us. I was nervous, happy, and excited; then again, like everything else lately, I didn't know how to explain or comprehend these emotions.

My friends just watched him with their jaws dropped, and I had to hold back my giggles at their expressions. I was too preoccupied trying to prepare for him coming to our table.

He leaned over our table, and was more charming and dazzling than ever. "Would you mind if I sat here, ladies?" he asked, smiling. I wasn't going to say no, and from the looks on my friend's faces, they weren't either. They were left speechless from his accent and charming persona. "No, of course we don't mind." said a giddy Ashley.

Demetri smiled an award winning smile and said "Thank you." He sat down next to me, and all of my friends couldn't keep their eyes off of him in wonder.

"So how are you all today?" he asked, turning up the charm.

"Uhh, we're fine." They stuttered out distractedly.

My attempts at giggling didn't work very well this time, and I did in fact let one out. I quickly and ridiculously tried to cover it up with a fake cough afterward, hoping they would buy it. The chances of that were very doubtful, but they ignored it. All of them except for Demetri, who looked back at me and smiled. Why did he have to do that so often? I swear, that smile will be the death of me.

--------------------------------

Later that day Demetri came by and we went over more Guitar playing techniques. My dad was coming home soon to meet him.

"Are you ready to meet my dad when he comes?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I'm ready." he said, confident in his ability to make a good impression.

I smiled at him, and he smiled back. "I'm really glad that you decided to give me a second chance, after everything." I looked up at him, and even though his voice was sad, he looked so happy about it. His expression reminded me of a light shining through the darkness, the darkness in _him_.

I didn't know how respond to that, so I just said an awkward, "It's fine, please don't worry about it."

He frowned a little now, disrupting the light, causing him to just go back to darkness. It made me frown too.

"I'm just glad that I can get to know you." Demetri said, looking out the window. I felt something inside me swell up in happiness.

"Why, I mean... I'm not that great."

He looked back at me instantly, in shock, like I was crazy to think that way. "Don't say that, Adalia. I can honestly say that you're one of the greatest girls that I've ever met." This made my heart swell up even more, so much that I felt like it would burst. I couldn't believe what he was saying, but I hoped so much that it was the genuine truth.

I sighed, "You know, every girl at our school wants you. I'm sure some already have made elaborate plots to do so. I just don't get...." I said struggling to find the right words. "I just don't get why you would choose _me_ to be friends with, when you could talk to any girl you wanted."

He looked at me sympathetically, and put my hands into his. I started to feel the butterflies once again. "Why do you say that? You are an absolutely wonderful girl, that's why I want to know you and talk to you. None of those other girls can even compare." I couldn't contain my wild happiness when he said that, it made me smile uncontrollably.

Then he shook his head in disgust at the thought of the girls, "What I don't understand is why they would all want me. I'm hardly a catch, and they wouldn't like me very much if they knew me."

This time, I was the one to look at him like he was crazy for thinking what he was thinking. Did he really not understand? He was the most wonderful person I've ever met, period.

Before I could argue on that topic, he began, "Why do you think so little of your self? I know that you have story behind the way you are, but what is that?"

I thought a moment, I couldn't tell him that. I didn't know if I ever could. I couldn't bear it if he too thought I was a nut case. "I don't want to talk about that. You wouldn't understand..." I said, before I realized that he had said the exact same thing the other day.

He looked at me, realizing this too. "I guess we both have something we want to hide."

I was about to comment on that, but was interrupted when Demetri said "He's here," peeking out the window. By accident, I began trying to reach for his hand to lead him to where my dad was coming inside, but I stopped myself right before I could make contact. "Come on," I said, and I led him to the front door of my house.

My dad was walking in, putting his jacket on the coat rack, not noticing us until afterward. When he finally looked at us, his expression darkened as he set eyes on Demetri. It looked like he had seen a ghost, a ghost that he wasn't pleased at all to see in his house.

"Hey dad.... this is Demetri..." I told him, unsure and confused by his reaction. My dad looked as if he hadn't even heard me, and just stared at Demetri for a few long seconds more. Demetri was about to say something, but my dad interrupted him and said, "Adalia, can I talk to you alone, please?"

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Please _review_! You probably don't know what it means to me, but it really means a lot. Tell me exactly what you think; what you liked about it, what you disliked. I may (keyword: MAY) try to become an author, possibly. I need to know if I'm any good for that possibility, and I need to know how to improve and what to improve upon. That's where you come in, with out reviews I won't be able to improve. Please just take a few minutes to write up a review.**

**I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can. I wanted to make this one longer, but if I did the next cliff hanger would have made it way too long. I don't think it'll take me too long, but I'm nt making any promises. I got pretty into it in this chapter, I have a good idea what I'm going to do next and I'm excited to get it written down. **

**Anyway, I really hope that you liked it! =]**

**PS. Check out Rene Velarde (song in the beginning) on myspace and/or itunes. He's not well known right now but he's very good so far. **

**Adios amigos. **

**- Jenna**


	10. Restaurante

**Shine by: The Morning Of**

I step outside into the light  
The sun is bright  
I close my eyes  
The summer caught me by surprise  
And now I'm left here waiting  
For you to tell me how it is  
If I could only get a kiss  
I could make you take a risk  
On a boy who wants this

And now the sun has sunk below  
The evening wind, it starts to blow  
I catch the sent of your perfume  
It lifts me higher than the moon

I'll be fine  
If you stay by my side  
Never felt this way in my whole life  
Never had this feeling before tonight  
Can't get you off my mind  
Cause you shine, girl, oh you know you shine

Your eyes are brighter than the sun  
They make me see that you're the one  
Your smile takes my breath away  
And leave me with nothing left to say  
You aren't like any other girl  
That I've met in this whole world  
You're so much more than they can be  
So won't you just be with me

I'll be fine  
If you stay the night  
Never felt this way in my whole life  
Never had this feeling before tonight  
Can't get you off my mind  
Cause you shine, girl, oh you know you shine

I would give up forever to see the day  
Where the both of us could just walk away

Never felt this way in my whole life  
Never had this feeling before tonight  
Can't get you off my mind  
Cause you shine, girl, oh you know you shine

Never felt this way in my whole life  
Never had this feeling before tonight  
Can't get you off my mind  
Cause you shine, girl, oh you know you shine  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Reluctantly, I followed my dad into a separate room, using my eyes to apologize to Demetri. He must have been just as confused as I was, because his eyes were wide in shock.

"What is it, Dad?" I asked, nervously. I had no idea what was with his reaction to Demetri, and it was nerve racking standing here watching him pace around the room frustrated and nervous. I could tell that he was stressed out, I just wanted to know why.

"What did you say that boy's name was?" he asked me, tapping his chin with his fingers rapidly.

"Demetri Cullen..." I said, unsure where he was going with this. I don't think that even he knew where he was going with this.

"Why?" I asked, when he didn't answer me. He put his head into the palm of his hand and began, "He looks like someone I... once knew." he said, grimacing at a memory I couldn't see. "But I just don't understand..." he continued, running his hands through his hair nervously.

"What is _wrong_? I don't understand why you're so stressed out." I said. I think that hit something inside of him, because he looked up from his frustrated pondering to look at me, almost in shock.

"Doesn't he look familiar to you?" he asked and when I shook my head, it wasn't the full truth. Somewhere inside me Demetri reminded me of someone, but I didn't think about it much because it scared me to do so. The thought quickly left my mind and never came back.

Gosh, he was a mess, the way he was slouched over with his hand holding his head up, his shirt unkempt and so stressed out. His forehead was even sweating. He still looked surprised, even shocked, by my answer. "Not at all?" he asked.

I shook my head no again and he looked away pained. "I don't know if you should talk to him anymore...." he began, but something inside me snapped. "Dad!" I yelled, startling even myself. I calmed down and collected my thoughts before speaking again.

"You don't know him, he probably just looks similar to this person you once knew. You don't even know him, I don't think we should judge him so quickly, based off of this."

He thought more and then sighed. He still didn't look convinced at all, and I could tell that he was secretly worried, but I knew that I had won this time. "Fine, but I'm going to keep an eye on him, just as a precaution. I don't trust that kid..."

I wanted to roll my eyes, but this is what I had expected him to say. "Thank you, dad." I said, peeking back into the room that Demetri was patiently waiting in. He looked so sad again, just looking at me through the wall and looking away a few seconds later. I could see the pain in his emotion filled eyes.

"Demetri is out there though, I think that we should go back out there so you can properly introduce your selves to each other." I said.

He didn't look fully comfortable with the idea, but he agreed to go in. I really wished that I knew what he was so worried about, why this person that Demetri looked like had shaken him up so much.

I walked out first, so I could talk to Demetri alone. "Sorry about that," I said awkwardly messing with my hair, "He's just.... dad."

His pained expression I saw through the door hadn't changed, and the look in his adorably dark eyes almost triggered my eyes to tear up. He only nodded in response. "Hey, are you okay?" I said softly and gently, looking up to him, trying to show him how much I cared with my own eyes.

'Eyes are the windows into peoples souls', my mother used to tell me. I wanted to usethat to show him what words couldn't. It proved to be true too because Demetri never verbally told me that he was hurting, but the look on his face, mostly in his eyes, told me that was the case.

He ran his fingers through his dark hair and looked down at me caringly, forcing a smile, "I'm fine." I frowned a little, because I knew that that wasn't actually the truth; his smile was much too forced, and his eyes didn't quite match it.

I bit my lip, and then decided to let my dad inside to officially meet him. "I'm going to have my dad come in now," I told him, so it wouldn't catch him off guard. Demetri nodded and I turned around to call my dad in.

"Dad, can you come here please?" I asked, and soon my dad came walking in, but sort of reluctantly.

"Dad, this is Demetri Cullen," I told him, gesturing toward Demetri. I turned toward Demetri and said, "Demetri, this is my dad, John Greenfield."

Demetri smiled politely, and said with an outstretched arm towards my dad, inviting a hand shake, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Greenfield."

My dad looked at his hand nervously, but eventually took it in for a quick hand shake. I could tell how hard it was for to try and be polite back.

Demetri's face contorted into the same pain I had seen when I was talking to my dad alone. "I'm sorry that you don't feel very kindly towards me, but if it's any consolation, your daughter is wonderful. I'm very glad to know her." As he said this, he wasn't looking at my father though, he was looking at _me_. His deep, passionate eyes searing into me.

My dad didn't know what to think, but I'm fairly sure that his fatherly instincts to not feel comfortable around any boy who liked their daughter as anything besides an acquaintance kicked in. He was barring his teeth in annoyance as Demetri looked at me the way he was.

I shot him a warning glance, and he relaxed a little. Sighing, he said "It's fine, Demetri. I can give you a chance here, I have no reasonable reason not to." he said, but something in the way he looked at him said that he wasn't sure if that was really the case.

"You did save my daughter and I really do owe you for that." His expression changed when he said this, now he was thankful for Demetri's actions, despite what ever was bothering him about Demetri. "If you hadn't, I don't think... I don't think she would be here with me right now." he grimaced and looked pained at the very thought of that. "Thank you, Demetri."

Demetri looked almost shocked by his sudden change of attitude for him, and then shook his head slightly, as if clearing his head. "You're welcome, Mr. Greenfield, I was happy to do it. I really do care a lot about your daughter."

For the first time, my dad smiled a real smile, it was small, but it wasn't forced. "I believe you when you say that. You seem like a nice young man."

Demetri smiled back, and said "Thank you." For a few minutes, no one said a word. It was almost like an awkward silence. "Well, dad, me and Demetri are going to go and... practice more guitar, if that's alright?"

My dad nodded, "That's fine. Oh, and Demetri, I think that as long as you are coming over, and friends with Adalia, we should get to know each other better as well. Not that I don't trust you at all, but I think that it would be nice to know who she's spending all her time with."

"Of course," Demetri nodded, and we were soon back in my room practicing more guitar, which I was actually doing pretty well at.

--------------------------

**Monday Next Week:**

Me and Demetri have been hanging out every day this past week. We've gotten so much closer, I could barely believe it. Of course he would still have his moments where I was reminded of those walls that he keeps up, but we made each other happy. Well, I didn't know about him, but I did know that he made _me_ extremely happy.

Renesmee told me that she knew it would work out, and seemed pretty happy about Demetri and I being friends just as much as I was. Me and Demetri actually planned for me to come over to their house in a few days so I could properly meet the family under better circumstances than the first time.

To my disbelief, Demetri and my father have been getting along famously. I guess that my dad was only paranoid for one reason or another, but now he really trusted Demetri more than he thought possible. I was so glad that they were getting along and that my dad actually seemed to like Demetri.

My friends have certainly accepted Demetri, but he didn't really talk to them that much, he still only talked to me the majority of the time. We drove to school together, and on the way back. We were pretty much inseparable by the end of the week.

I felt bad for Natalie though, because she never talked to me anymore. When ever I was around, she would pretend like I didn't exist. I didn't understand, but I felt horrible. I knew I haven't done anything wrong, but somehow she must feel like I did. I only hoped it wasn't over Demetri.

The only thing that I hadn't really been enjoying was this stubborn cold I've been having, runny nose and all.

When we got back to school in the beginning of the week, Demetri didn't have the art work that he was working on before. He told me that he brought it home and did it there. Now he was working on a painting; it was dark and fiery, like flames bursting into the air, devouring everything that would have been in the picture and leaving pitch dark shadows and a few shades of grey instead.

What was interesting though, was that there was a cool, turquoise, yellow, lavender and crystal mist that was also drawn into the picture, standing strong against the fiery flames around it. When the flames would have turned everything in it's path to a black hole, eventually destroying even itself in its path, it seemed these beautiful colors together was the only thing that could stand in its way and stop it from going any further. The colors were trying to light up what the flames had left in darkness. But then again, I was probably just looking to deep for a meaning.

Today, just like every other day, we went to my house after school. I couldn't get over this new routine, I had never been the one who would constantly have company, or would be with their friends all the time. I've never even had a best friend, but it seems that Demetri had quickly filled that void. Despite what I wanted to believe, I knew that I wished we could be more.

I... I was falling in love with him. That's the most reasonable answer I could come up with for what I felt for him. Although I felt very comfortable with him, I still felt the butterflies around him. I could never ask for a romantic relationship with him though, I didn't want to ask for more than I deserved. It would easily ruin what we had already if I did, anyway, if he didn't feel the same way. I couldn't imagine why he would feel that way.

We went to my house, and went to the guitar playing. By now, I had shown him what I could do with the piano we had, which I was very good at if I do say so myself. In my room, he was showing me how he played this song he wrote. It was beautiful, with a catchy but mesmerizing melody you could get lost in.

Sitting there, playing the guitar and being so blissful whilehe was doing it, he looked at peace. He really was the most beautiful boy I had ever seen, with his raven hair that complimented his paleface. His features were so perfect, it was really almost impossible.

And his slender, but toned body... wow is all I could say. I wanted so badly just to hold him, for him to hold me... I didn't even mind that he was so hard and cold. It was an odd thing, but it never really bothered me like it did at first. I never dared ask him about it though, it always jolted the thoughts I didn't want to think about to come back into my head.

Then I got an idea, this was picture perfect, at least for now. I grabbed my digital camera, and zoomed up on him while he was too engulfed in his song to notice. _Snap, _and the picture was taken with a flash of light.

He stopped playing and looked up, like a deer caught in the head light, and his eyes focused in on my camera. He looked at me with his head tilted to the side amused but questioningly.

"What?" I asked innocently, not doing a very good job at keeping a poker face.

"Why did you take a picture of me?" he asked, almost laughing.

I shrugged, "You looked so into it, so passionate and at peace. I couldn't help myself. Besides, I wanted to take pictures for that art project."

He laughed, with his eyes glimmering, and I couldn't help but laugh too, "What? I love taking pictures, and this looks good in black and white." I asked, between laughs.

He smiled now, the laughing calming down. He shook his head, amused, "You're really something, Adalia."

Time flew past us, and soon it was time for dinner. "Hungry?" I asked, getting up to go to the kitchen.

"No, I'm fine, but if you're hungry..." he said, getting up and following me to the kitchen. He never ate around me, I wondered what that was all about but quickly cut myself off. Don't think about that, don't think about that, I told myself. Don't get into that again, don't ruin it for yourself. After raiding the refrigerator for ten minutes, trying to find something to eat, I finally gave up. "Well it's official, there is nothing to eat in here."

He was now leaning against the island table, bored and staring at me amused, with a smirk on his gorgeous face. I must amuse him very much, because I've seen him make that expression too many times to count. "Let's go and get you something to eat then." he said, getting up and walking to the front door.

"No, that's fine Demetri. I don't have any money to get anything."

"I'll pay." he told me, determinedly. "No, you don't have to." I said, but he turned towards me interrupting my internal debate. "No, but I want to." I knew there was no changing his mind on this one.

I sniffled, fighting my annoying runny nose and sighed, "Fine, but I'm paying you back when I can." He chuckled, and said, "We'll see about that."

He swung the door open and held it open for me. "Ladies first." he said, gesturing out the door and bowing to me. I giggled at him, "Oh, thank you, kind sir." I walked out the door and curtsied, walking down the stone path out to the driveway.

When we got into his warm, expensive car, he smiled at me, and then he looked like he had just noticed something. "Why aren't you wearing a jacket?" he asked, looking at my bare arms.

I shrugged, and said "I'm not cold. I'm actually pretty warm."

He looked at me as if I didn't know what I was talking about, and said "Adalia, it's 45 degrees outside."

I didn't know how it could be that cold, yet I felt like it was a cool summers day. I sneezed, and then sniffled, my cold was acting up again. "That's weird. I really am warm though..."

His forehead scrunched up, as he leaned over looking at me worried. He rested the back of his cold hand onto my forehead lightly, and then backed away as if it didn't help what he was trying to accomplish anyway.

"What?" I asked.

"I wanted to see if you were coming down with a fever, but that's the opposite affect of a fever. If you did have one you would feel cold, not hot."

I sniffled some more, and looked around the neat and clean car for a tissue box that might have been laying around. "Do you have any tissues?" I asked, when he finally started the car and drove away.

"No, I'm sorry, I don't. We can get some tissues at the restaurant though, if you're feeling up to it?"

"Wait, restaurant?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah," he said, in the of-course tone of voice.

I put my hand to my forehead now, "Ugh, Demetri, I thought you were going to pay for some fast food or something, not an expensive dinner..."

He smiled, "It's not a big deal, I don't mind. It's on me."

I rolled my eyes, "Fine." I said, even though I didn't feel comfortable with him paying for me.

He smiled, and we drove a little longer, soon arriving at my favorite Mexican restaurant.

Smiling, I said, "This is my favorite restaurant..."

"I know," said Demetri, "That's why I brought you here. You told me before that you loved it here."

I looked at him, shocked that he could remember me saying that. "Thank you," I said.

We went inside the Mexican styled restaurant. The restaurant had the aroma of Mexican spices, and the lighting was low like a candlelit room. The walls were decorated with Spanish paintings of beautiful Latino women, and there were many sombreros hung up here and there.

We were led to our table, which was a small booth with a dim light hanging over the middle. I looked at Demetri, who looked to be studying the decor of the walls around him.

I smiled, "Do you like it here? I know that Mexican and Spanish aren't quite the same, but they are similar."

He smiled back at me, twisting the straw in the glass of water that the waitress had gotten him. "I do like it here, it's very... festive."

I chuckled and said "I wonder what would happen if you spoke Spanish to the waitress, to see if she knows what you are saying."

I was joking, but I could almost see the light bulb in his head flashing as he took it seriously, and looked excited as he looked around really considering it.

"Are you actually going to do that?" I asked, surprised. He smiled one of his enormous mischievous smiles once again, practically blinding me.

"Excuse me?" he began, trying to get one of the waitresses' attention. "Demetri, I wasn't serious.." I began, trying to calm his excitement.

Our waitress noticed, and walked over hurriedly. "Yes?" she asked, looking at Demetri. He smiled one of his killer smiles at her, and I wouldn't be surprised if her reaction was something like my own when he does that.

"¿Hola, señorita?" he said quickly, causing the waitress to look at him with no comprehension and confusion. I knew what he said, at this point because most people at least know what hello is and the term for a young woman in Spain.

"¿Cómo ha estado yendo su tarde para usted? ¿Usted no sabe español, le hace? ¿No?" he said this too fast for me to comprehend a thing that he was saying, and I just stared at him, my confusion growing.

All I could get out of his rambling foreign nonsense was that it was a question. The waitress was even more confused than I was, her face scrunching up in total puzzlement. "I'm sorry, sir, but I don't..." she began, but Demetri interrupted her and went on rambling again.

"Esto es mi amor, yo significo a mi amigo, Adalia. Esto es su restaurante predilecto, y yo quieren hacer su feliz. Ella es una chica muy encantadora y maravillosa, pero ella no se da cuenta de eso. Espero que ella no sepa español porque yo no deseo que ella saber lo que digo."

The confused expression on the Waitresses face made me giggle. He was talking like an obnoxious, fast talking school girl, making hand gestures to tell a story. It was quite comedic, so I couldn't help but laugh harder.

"Ella es la chicamás adorable yo jamás he visto, y ella me hace más feliz que he estado en el mucho tiempo. Ella me hace quiero ser una mejor persona, en vez de es tan lejano. Quiero abrir hasta ella, y adorarla. Yo la adoro más que nada."

Some where in the middle of his fast talking, good motor skills, and rolling some of the letters, he would use hand gestures, sometimes towards me, or at nothing at all. He seemed to be talking with his hands also, all the while talking up a storm of a language that neither I or the waitress could understand. He looked and sounded so good when he was speaking his regular language. He seemed even more beautiful and exotic than usual while he fluently spoke in Spanish.

I never understood anything in Spanish, even if I had taken Spanish, I wouldn't be able to. The language was far too hard for me to get used to the quickness of the words. They all seemed to jumble up together into one giant paragraph of flowing nonsense.

Once he was done, she just stood there watching him like he had just given birth to cows. "I have no idea what you just said. I no speakie espanol." I couldn't help but burst out laughing at her awful attempt at declaring her lack of knowledge for the Spanish language. It was just terrible, and even I knew that.

I've only taken Spanish 1, but I didn't know enough to keep up with him, nor did I remember many of the words. There were few words I was able to pick out of his ramblings, and those were extremely basic.

She glared at me, and I tried to hold it back, "Um, sorry about that." I said, a small giggle escaping through. "I'd like a quesadilla, please." she looked at me a few seconds longer, and shook her head slightly before jotting down my order. "And you?" she said, turning towards Demetri.

"No, gracias," he said, showing off another one of his dazzling smiles. She just stood there, dazzled by his smile and confused like she had been before, waiting for the English translation. I giggled in a short burst, and then cleared my throat. "I believe that he said "No, thank you." I said, answering her unspoken question about what he had just said.

She squinted her eyes at us, almost glaring again, and then turned and walked away melodramatically. As she left, both Demetri and I erupted in laughter. "What did you even say?" I said, wiping away a tear from laughing too hard.

"I just asked her how she was doing, and went on and on about random things."

I lifted an eyebrow, surprised, "Was that really all? You were talking up a storm." I laughed some more, thinking about how fast he was talking. Foreign languages did that to me, I knew it was a legit language, but it always seems like nonsense when you don't know a thing about it. I couldn't help but giggle at it.

"Well, basically. I didn't mention anything notable though," he answered, but the tone of his voice made me wish even more that I knew Spanish. Yet another one of his brooding mysteries, I suppose.

Playing with the straw to my sweet pop drink that I had gotten and taking little sips, I looked up at him amused.

When he noticed, his lip turned up and he said, playfully, "What?"

Taking a little sip out of my red straw and chewing on the tip, I said, "I didn't think you'd actually do that."

"Well, there's a lot of things you'd be surprised that I would actually do," he said, still playful, but the undertone was almost serious.

I played along, "Oh, like what?"

"Well, for example, I may or may not be capable of _hurting _you." he said dangerously, and for the first time being around him I felt a different kind of chills. These chills weren't accompanied by the butterflies, it was _fear_, almost. His eyes were narrowed as he said this, his expression as dark as his hair and eyes. The fear wasn't of him, though; it was because he reminded me of something, or someone...

I gulped and sniffed again, and said with my nasally voice weakly, "Oh, I don't believe you."

He was leaning over the table with his dark eyes searing into mine, and said, "You should believe me."

Not that the fear was totally gone, because it certainly wasn't, but I wasn't as afraid anymore. I wasn't as afraid for me, anyway. I met his eyes and narrowed them defiantly, "You don't _actually_ believe that, do you?"

He snapped out of his dark, threatening phase and his expression quickly melted to the sadness that was walled up like before. Quietly, he said, "I do."

I still had on my strong face, and kept my sick voice strong. "Well I don't."

He just shook his head at me slightly, as if I should know better, or as if _he_ should know better. He was too god damn stubborn.

The waitress swooped by, setting the plate onto the table and dashing away quickly. Well she was being a little rude, I thought as I put salsa on my food and took a delicate bite.

Suddenly there were loud whispers coming from the booth behind me. I could tell that they were supposed to be actual whispers that couldn't be heard, but these bickering girls failed at that intention miserably.

"I don't know what is wrong with him..." said one whispering female voice.

"I know. What is he thinking? Adalia Greenfield? He could do so much better, like me, for example." said another.

"I think she really is crazy, and she's not even attractive. I mean, she's attractive if you're into girls who are just average. I just don't see the appeal." said another, nastily.

I didn't even know how to respond to their nasty words. I was mad, hurt, and I felt guilty for bringing Demetri into my misfortune. I looked up to Demetri, and he looked offended by their words, also. I looked down at the table, because I didn't want to see his face. I guess it was a form of me trying to be invisible at that moment.

Out of the corner of my eyes, Demetri gracefully lept out of his chair, and I almost thought he was leaving until he stopped in front of the booth behind me. Instantly, I looked away from the table and peeked over my chair to see Demetri and the girls in the booth.

I recognized them as soon as I saw them. They were Sadie Coscow and Chelsea Thomas, both mean girls that were just outside of Sophia's group of mean girls.

"Now, it is terrible manners to talk about people behind their back, especially when they can hear you rather clearly. You two should really work on your whispering skills, by the way."

They just looked at him in shock, and also in a daze for the fact that: One, he was gorgeous, and two, he was talking to them. He never had before, and it would be a significant event for them. They probably imagined him talking in a less belligerent tone, though.

He glanced at me, and then back at them, "Would you two lovely ladies," he said sarcastically, "like to share your gossip with me, rather than without my knowledge?"

These girls knew me since childhood, and they were almost as awful as Sophia herself. Chelsea looked down regretfully, with her glossy brown hair framing her face, but Sadie at him argumentatively, challenging him. "I would be happy to." she said, and shot me a dirty glance. She reminded me a lot of Sophia, with her flawless face and perfect blond hair. I'm surprised they weren't best friends, they were so much a like.

"You, Demetri, could have any girl in this town, but here you are spending all of your precious time with Adalia Greenfield. She is hardly in your league, you should really consider being with someone more worthy of you; someone like me."

Demetri rolled his eyes, "You are incredibly shallow, first of all. Second, she is more than worthy of my time. It is _I_ who is not worthy of _hers_, and people like _you _who are most definitely not worthy of _mine_." he said with a disgusted, bitter tone.

The girls face contorted into shock and she was about to say something, but Demetri interrupted her. "Well we'd better get back to our dinner, good day." He said with a grin before he turned around and walked to his seat to sit down as gracefully as he had gotten up. The whispering didn't go on any longer.

I was almost as shocked as the girls were. I wasn't so much shocked as I was happy, though. He was defending me, and didn't even let them mention that I was crazy or wondered what it was about.

"Thank you," I said quietly. He looked up at me, and when I thought he wasn't going to answer, he said "Don't mention it." I still looked down at the table, afraid to look at him. What if it really did bother him that he was talking to me, the girl that no one thought was good enough to be friends with him?

I could feel him staring at me, and suddenly his cool fingers gently lifted up my chin like he had before. He positioned my head so that I was no longer looking at my plate, but at his face. "Adalia, nothing they say can change my opinion of you. I hope you know that."

"That's a nice reassurance," I said, trying to sound as happy as I was, but it came out a little shyly. I smiled a little, and he smiled back. "I hope that you are fully assured, then" he said.

I took a bite of my delicious spicy dinner. It was making my nose run worse, so I was rather sniffly and wiped my nose a lot. I ate all of my food, and some chips that we got on the side. Demetri was casually leaning back in his seat across from me, crossing his arms across his chest. As I shoved a mouthful of food into my mouth, his eye's widened in surprise, and laughed, "Wow, where do you put all that food?"

I squeezed my almost nonexistent stomach and scrunched over so that the skin was bunched up. "I dunno, I guess I store it in my jelly rolls." I said, jokingly. I was glad that he was trying to brighten up the mood.

He rolled his adorable dark eyes, "You're one of the tiniest girls I've ever seen."

"Oh, thanks." I said, rolling my eyes back. "There is a benefit to being small though."

"And what is that benefit?" he asked.

"I can fit through small spaces, say I was trying to get through a crowd or something, I could easily fit between the people. They don't usually notice either, because most people see right over my head."

"That's an interesting benefit, I definitely can't relate to that." he said.

"You can relate to the tall people who don't see me, though. You're so damn tall, excuse my French."

He laughed, "I don't believe anything that you had just said is in the French language."

Just then, I realized that we were leaning in towards each other, and for a moment, I felt like we were the only two people in the room. "You know what I mean."  
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Demetri's Spanish Rambling Translation**: "Hello, miss? How has your evening been going for you? You don't know Spanish, do you? No? This is my love, I mean my friend, Adalia. This is her favorite restaurant, and I want to make her happy. She is a very charming and wonderful girl, but she doesn't realize that. I hope she doesn't know Spanish because I don't want her to know what I am saying. She is the most adorable girl I have ever laid eyes on, and she makes me happier than I've been in a long time. She makes me want to be a better person, instead of being so distant. I want to open up to her, and love her. I love her more than anything."

**Thank you for reading, and please please review! Reviews are my motivation to keep on going and get the chapters up faster. I'm not trying to bribe you, I am just motivated to not be as lazy about it when people tell me what they think and want more.**

**This would have been up sooner, had I been able to sign into fanfiction for the first couple days of this week. I'll try and get the next chapter up soon, hopefully that will be when the more exciting stuff happens if I can fit it in.**

**I put the translation above in by the way, because if you were curious enough to find an online translator to translate it to English, or if you know Spanish, it would probably be butchered. I used a translator to translate it from English to Spanish, an I'm sure the online translators aren't perfect.**

**PS. Thank you to Kelly for beta reading this! You were very helpful, and I can't thank you enough. =]**


	11. Mansion

**Tuesday:**

The next day Demetri and I continued the guitar lessons and hanging out. The other day we managed to get away from Rainier, escaping to Longview, Washington. To get there, it required going over a bridge to cross the river that separated the two towns. Since there is barely anything to do or go to in this tiny town, we wanted to explore the world a bit - which would translate to exploring the bordering town right next to us.

We've gotten so much closer, and even though I knew that neither of us have confided our pasts with each other, I felt like I really knew him already.

I still wanted so badly to be trusted by him enough that he'd tell me that missing chunk of his past that I knew was beneath the surface. He would occasionally let glimpses of his pain show through his tough, thick walls.

He was really a complex person; there was such a mystery behind his cool, charming and dark shell. Surprisingly, I even wanted to confide my own past in him. Of course I still had my doubts, but I felt like I can trust him, and I suddenly want him to know me that much more. I really hoped to god that these weren't just naive thoughts.

On another note, besides Demetri and I, my cold had gotten worse. Just yesterday, I blew out the strangest substance out of my nose that I had ever seen. It was unnaturally slimy and green, but with an extremely sticky texture. I almost gagged just wiping my nose.

Well isn't it just my luck that I'd be sick just in time for my seventeenth birthday on Saturday? Oh well, I guess I couldn't complain, things have been going pretty well for me lately. I was actually genuinely happy, which is something I haven't been since before the night in the woods so many years ago.

I was actually really excited for my birthday, it would be a good day.

----------------------

Later that night, I had a reoccurring dream of mine, one that was so abstract and foreign to me that I couldn't understand where it came from. Somehow, it didn't feel like my imagination, it was too real, and oddly enough, I felt like I knew this mysterious place. It was an absolutely gorgeous area, with waterfalls and greenery surrounding it everywhere

Everything around me; the light shining through the tall trees, the grass, the water, the beach: they all felt like they had a life of their own. I felt an odd sensation as I ran through this place happily and without a care in the world.

I could almost feel the light, refreshing breeze, and smell the wonderful scent of dew and spring flowers. It was relaxing, exhilarating, freeing, refreshing, and I felt like this was where I belonged. Where I _really_ belonged; my one true _home_.

I ran (well, more like danced and skipped) through the enchanting forest, until I saw a slender figure near a tree, with her blond hair glimmering and blowing in the breeze and sunshine. She began to turn around, but then, much to my dislike, the dream was over.

**Wednesday:**

"So when am I going to meet your family, Demetri?" I asked between coughs at lunch. Demetri was beside me sitting in a cool and controlled position, as relaxed as you could be. He was certainly in his charming mode.

He was sitting with me at my lunch table with my friends and I instead of with his family. I felt guilty for dragging him away from his family, but he insisted that he sit with me at my own table instead. Demetri raised his adorable face towards me, "I can bring you by tomorrow, if that's alright?"

"Yeah, that's fine. I'll go tomorrow." I told him with my congested and weak voice. "Alright," he said, his attention drifting to a table in the opposite corner of the room. I followed his gaze to see Sophia sitting at her table quietly but dangerously glaring at me.

I got the chills as her beautiful but vengeful face stared me down. I turned after being temporarily dazed by Sophia's glaring to look at Demetri. He looked at me sympathetically but obviously annoyed and bothered by Sophia's behavior.

Leaning in closer to me, he said with a completely serious look and tone, "Please, remember what I told you yesterday. They don't mean anything to me, you do." As if his saying things like that had never gotten old, I felt the butterflies in my stomach flutter with that one sentence.

I sighed and sniffed weakly, and fought with myself not to glance over at Sophia again.

"What's her deal?" asked Ashley while my other two friends watched Demetri admiringly. "She's just jealous, is all." said Kayla.

**Thursday:**

Today was the day that Demetri was going to officially introduce me to his family. Since the last time I met them was in light of my near death, they wanted to meet me under better circumstances than before.

Despite how wonderfully my emotional side was going, my physical side was in excruciating pain. It was lunch time, and I had some kind of a terrible stomach ache or cramp. It was so painful that I was crunching my stomach to bend over the table while holding myself around the waist tightly as if it would decrease the pain.

I felt like my stomach was eating itself, or something like that. That would be ridiculous that my stomach would actually be eating it self though, because I was far from having anything remotely close to an eating disorder. I've always eaten like a cow. I love food.

Besides that stomach-eating-its-self feeling, my chest felt like it was going to explode. My back and my legs also had this strange tingly and uncomfortable pain-like feeling that was so weird. It felt like some weird growing pain that was uncomfortable because they were growing in the wrong way, a different way.

In my back there were also two symmetrical sections on each side that seemed to have the same feeling as my legs. Was I dying or something? Or was I just jumping to conclusions and being a huge baby?

Demetri looked extremely concerned, even though I could only see glimpses of his face between blinking my eyes tightly instinctively trying to ignore the pain. "I'm going to bring you to the school nurse," said Demetri as he was getting out of his seat. I looked up at him, ignoring the pain more than before to be convincing. "No, I don't need to. I'm feeling better now."

That wasn't entirely a lie, unbelievably enough, my stomach started out hurting way more than it did now. Demetri had his determined expression on, the one that said that there was no debating with him. I looked around at my friends, who were slightly concerned as they watched me and Demetri's conversation.

"Fine," I sighed, struggling to get out of my seat. Demetri helped me up by intertwining his arm through mine and guiding me through the door, pulling half of my weight up with his arm. "I have a stomach ache. I'm not incapable of walking myself." I said looking up to the tall Demetri above me.

He smirked and just assisted my walking even more by picking me up into his arms as if I was as light as a feather, carrying me through the hall way. "Very funny," I said sarcastically but also playfully. I didn't want to admit that this made my butterflies flutter faster than they ever had before.

"What?" he said while chuckling, " It's proper manners, you're a sick maiden."

"Maiden?" I asked, amused and curiously wondering where his use of the word had come from. Typically, if anyone said a thing like that I would giggle at their cute dorkiness (depending on the person who said it, most people wouldn't be able to pull it off), but when he said it seemed natural. The word reminded me of old fairy tales from the medieval times about forbidden romances and prince's saving the princess/ damsel in distress. Times when the concept of true love existed, your one and only love.

These days some people seem to think that it's okay to be 'in love' with two people at once, a boy and a girl, and it's basically a trend amongst a certain growing group of kids. I don't even want to get into my opinions on that (Not that I'm homophobic. Whatever floats your boat, I suppose). The most important thing though, is that true love only involves one person. It's sick and pathetic to think otherwise.

These medieval times knew that, they had one true love that never died and they'd be happy together all their lives (Maybe even afterlife, who knows.) Men knew their manners and were complete gentlemen to women (most of them, I can't speak for all.) In the movies and fairy tales, the men would ride on their trusty steeds and rescue the damsel in distress, which soon became every 21st century little girl's dream to have in their own lives.

The romance, the chivalry, and the happily ever after, all things one would kill to have in their lives. Girl's nowadays wanted to be the image of girls back then, beautiful and graceful. How wonderful would it be if these things actually existed, and we all had our happy endings? We all wanted them, and when you die you won't be thinking of money and material things, you'll look back on the love in your life. Of course these ideas of medieval times were probably completely sugar coated and unrealistic. What a shame.

He smiled, but he never said a word, as I was flung over his arms and we were strolling through the hall way. I wonder what people would think if they looked outside their class room doors and saw us.

My whole body hurt like crazy, it didn't hurt as bad as it had earlier, but it spread out. After turning a couple times through the locker filled hall ways, we arrived at the entrance to the office to our right.

"I can walk now," I told him, he laughed and put me down before we walked through the door together side by side.

--------------------------

I got the medicine, and soon the pain faded away completely. Demetri went to art class while I went out into the hall way to get my art project out of my locker. I wondered what was happening to me, this cold is really strange. Feeling hot to the touch and the air around me as well, weird snot, and extreme pain (although I could just be a big baby about that incident).

I walked on through the hall ways when I was startled to see Hannah and Landon in the hall. As always, they were hugging onto each other affectionately. Oh, how I wanted what they had so badly. They were perfect for each other, and so in love. They were high school sweet hearts for sure. "Hey, Adalia," said Hannah enthusiastically.

"Hey," I repeated, trying to return an equally enthusiastic smile. "Are you okay?" she asked, probably noticing my red, swollen, stuffy nose.

"Oh, I'm fine, just a little sick," I said, and a short coughing attack seemed to punctuate that. "Aww, I hope you get better," said Hannah.

I sniffed, "I'm sure I will, it's probably just some weird cold." Hannah nodded slowly and looked up to Landon who was wrapping his arms around her. She looked back to me, "So how are things going with Demetri?" she asked. I suddenly realized that I hadn't talked to her about him before. I felt guilty for not talking to her much at all the past week. She must have seen me and Demetri around school or something. What a horrible friend I can be.

"Things are going well with Demetri," I answered. She nodded again, "I'm surprised that we even saw you alone just now," she began. "You and Demetri seem pretty inseparable these days. He seems like he really likes you."

I involuntarily lifted one brow questioningly at the way she said 'likes'. She sighed, "He likes you, Adalia. Well at least that's how it looks to us. Every time I see you two together, just telling by the way that he looks at you I can tell that he has stronger feelings for you than you probably think." She looked up to Landon, "Can you help me out here, hun?"

He smiled at me genuinely, "He totally likes you, I've rarely seen any guy look at a girl the way that he looks at you." Hannah smiled up at him.

Still raising an eyebrow slightly, I said, "Define 'likes'." She raised an eyebrow at me except hers was mischievous. "You know exactly what kind of 'likes' I'm speaking of." The truth was, I did know, I just couldn't believe a word of it. I wanted to, but it seemed too unreal to believe. I still couldn't believe we were even friends. Demetri was an extraordinary person.

After we said our goodbyes, I began walking back to art. I had gotten a hall pass, so I wouldn't be late. The halls were empty now, only the sounds of teachers lecturing in their class rooms filling the halls as I passed by. I suddenly got the prickly chilly feeling that someone was watching me. I looked around nervously, until I heard a wicked laugh from behind me. I twirled around to stand face to face with Sophia.

I jumped from being startled, and her laughter continued. "Oh, it's just me, calm down." That was precisely what made me nervous: it was Sophia.

I didn't say anything, and I was about to turn and leave and ignore her when she started talking. "You know, I never thought I would ever consider you as competition, but now it seems I'm going to have to look at you that way."

"Competition?" I asked as if I was bored and scrunching my forehead. Her ridiculous and undeserved possessiveness of Demetri made me tired, annoyed and mad all at the same time.

"Don't play stupid, Adalia. You know what I'm talking about, and you need to back off."

I gave her a questioning look, still playing dumb anyway. She got closer to me, so close that she was spitting the words into my face bitterly. "Back off Demetri, he's mine. I'm not joking; you'll regret not taking my advice and leaving him to me." I was too shocked by her threat to think much about how creepy and ridiculous she was. The way that she thought of Demetri as some sort of product that belonged to her made me sick.

I brought up the courage to swallow back my fear and look at her with a defying expression. I wasn't going to give into this shit; she was seriously getting on my last nerves. "Sophia," I said behind clenched teeth, "Demetri and I are friends, and I'm sick of people jumping to conclusions. And besides, he's not interested in anyone that has the 'he's mine' kind of attitude, and he's made that abundantly clear. "

That made her more mad, and her face tensed up as she said threateningly, "What I said still goes, and don't say I didn't warn you." With that, she turned around out of my face and walked away. I watched her walk away while strutting like a diva. I was too annoyed and pissed off by her to roll my eyes at the way she thought she owned the world. When she disappeared around a corner I took in a huge breath.

I didn't even really want to think about that anymore, I needed to get to class. I began walking back to art class, and sat down in my regular spot next to Demetri. Demetri raised an eyebrow, looking away from his work and at me, "That took you a long time." he stated.

"I got caught up," I replied blankly.

He looked at me more, obviously not buying my vague excuse, but shrugged it off. I changed the subject. "You never told me what your drawing was of, and you told me you would." I told him.

He automatically frowned, "I'll tell you another time." I pouted, but didn't say anything else. I knew he would tell me when he was ready, just as he would tell me about his past. If it got too out of hand though and he never told me, I'd more than likely force myself behind his walls.

-------------------------------------

We went back to my house after school, and practiced guitar some more. I was actually getting pretty good at it now. We were leaving soon to go to the Cullen's house for that official meeting that we were planning.

We walked to the front entrance of the house to find my dad sitting in his lazy boy chair watching TV. "Hey, dad. We're going to the Cullen's house right now," I told him while grabbing my jacket off of the coat rack.

"Have fun," said my dad as he turned his attention from the TV to us. "Hey, Demetri, I've been meaning to ask you something."

"What did you want to ask?" asked Demetri curiously.

"I was wondering if I could meet the rest of your family sometime? I still have yet to do so, and I've been told that they are worth meeting."

Thoughtfully, and his surprise apparent, Demetri said, "Of course you could meet my family, I would enjoy introducing you to them."

My dad smiled, "Thank you, Demetri." he began, and then looked at me in deep thought, and back to Demetri. I was surprised to see him looking at Demetri thankfully. "I really didn't give you enough credit before, you really are a fine young man."

Demetri smiled, and there almost seemed to be a hint of some inside joke that only he knew. He smiled politely at my father, "Thank you, I really appreciate that." My father smiled back, and there was an awkward silence. Well, at least it was awkward for me, standing there in the midst of their conversation, not being a part of it myself.

"Okay, I'll see you later, dad." I told him, about to walk towards the door. My father nodded at the both of us. Before I could make it to the door, Demetri was already there, smiling one of his gleaming smiles that made his eyes light up with it. Naturally, he was standing at the door, holding it open for me like the perfect gentleman that he was. His mommy must have raised him right. No, more than right, his manners were beyond the norm these days. Gentlemen are a dying breed.

His smile was contagious, and I couldn't help but smile back at him and giggle at how charming and polite he was. After we got into the car we turned the radio up until it was blasting our favorite songs (a tradition for our car rides now, it seems).

Looking out the window I could see a typical rainy day in Rainier, Oregon. The dark, gray clouds covered the sky in varying textures, hiding the sun behind it and leaving everything in a gloomy mess. Lately, it seems like we have had more rain than usual though, with all the thunderstorms we've been having. In yards there were ponds that weren't there naturally, all of the rain collecting in the low spots in the already very green grass.

It wasn't so bad all the time to live in such a rainy place, though. You got used to all the gloomy weather after you've lived here for so long. I actually liked the rain, depending on a few other details of the climate. I loved how refreshing and cool the rain drops felt on your skin on a warm day with a nice breeze.

After a while of driving and singing along to the songs on the radio and laughing together, I remembered that I wanted to ask him something. I turned the radio down enough that I could hear myself speak, and went ahead with my question while Demetri glanced at me wondering what I was about to say.

"So is there anything I should be aware of while I'm meeting them? You know, like, any way that I should act?" I said, feeling dumber and dumber as I got going with the query. Demetri raised his eyebrow and scrunched up his face at me, "Why do you think that you should act a certain way? You are prefect the way you are."

I got this weird tingly feeling followed by the butterflies when he said that, 'you are perfect the way you are.' It reminded me of what Hannah and Landon had said about Demetri _'liking'_ me. I wondered if he really did....

I snapped myself out of what I was thinking; I needed to answer his question. If we are meant to be, then it will happen when we're ready. If not, I don't want to ruin what we already have over it.

"Thank you," I said, feeling my cheeks get hot and red, "But what about Rosalie? I've never met her and she didn't seem to like me quite so well." I tapped my fingers, getting nervous and self conscious just thinking about meeting her. I've always tried not to let people bother me like her, but for some reason, her approval of me seemed more important than others. Then again, maybe I was just being paranoid and silly.

He smiled at me thoughtfully, but rolled his eyes at the thought of Rosalie. "Rosalie will survive, and she'll get over her hatefulness eventually. For now, don't worry about her, she's just.... Rosalie, don't take any of her attitude personally. My entire family, with the exception of Rosalie, is thrilled to officially meet you. They already find you to be a wonderful girl, as do I. Even Rosalie seems to be starting to warm up to the idea of having you around, even though it would hurt her pride to admit it."

Comforted by his sureness, I gave up. I turned the radio back up to it's regular volume (for us, that is) and sat back in my chair and enjoyed the ride. I've always liked riding in the car, especially on the highway. It was relaxing, but somehow reminded me of roller coasters. Weird, I know. I doubt very many other people felt any similarities between the two. When I thought about that I questioned my theory as well.

Roller Coaster's are amazing things, I loved the feeling you get being on one. I've met a lot of people who have mixed feelings about roller coasters, some love them, and some are too afraid of heights. I, on the other hand, loved the heights. I loved to go so fast and high up that you feel as if you are on top of the world, as well as the fluttery feeling and rush of excitement you also get.

"Do you like roller coasters?" I heard myself ask Demetri with out even realizing it. He looked at me wondering about the randomness of my question, as amusement quickly faded away his confusion. He smiled one of his adorable smiles that made his dark eyes twinkle a little and made me get that familiar fluttery feeling in my stomach. I wonder if that feeling would ever fade away permanently, if he would always have the same affect on me. I really hoped not.

"Yes, I like roller coasters. They're fascinating things, and what can I say? They're a blast to ride on," He said with his huge grin on his face.

I grinned back, glad that we had that in common. "We should go to an amusement park some day, I think that would be fun. Wait.." I said, narrowing my eyes at him playfully, "You're not afraid of heights, are you?"

He laughed, "The higher the better, I always say. And yes, I agree; we should definitely go together someday."

I smiled and leaned back in my seat, relieved that he had similar tastes in roller coasters. I always hated going to an amusement park with someone who was too paranoid and afraid to ride anything. It's definitely more fun to go with someone who has the same dare devil tendencies as you when it came to rides.

Pretty soon, we were pulling into a familiar driveway that brought back memories of the night I was kidnapped and (oh, jeeze) almost raped. It still seemed weird even thinking about that possibility. It was just so bizarre to me, and I felt a shock of fright just thinking about how horrible it would have been had Shawn succeeded in his drunken creepiness and the house hadn't come crashing down around us to stop him.

I actually didn't even know how I would have felt, had I actually lived through the experience, the next day and years after being so violated. Would I blame myself for it and go into a deep depression over it, like I have heard that many women have done so in result? Would I live a life of being angry and hell-bent on my revenge? Or would I just acknowledge the fact that it wouldn't have been my fault and moved on with my life, or better yet grown from it somehow? I would like to believe that it would be the last of the 3 choices, but I had no idea. Fortunately the opportunity to find out for myself didn't come.

Just as it had been that night when Demetri managed to rescue me from my very near death, the house was absolutely beautiful and old fashioned looking. The only difference about the house now was that it was still daylight. Even with the lack of sunlight on this cloudy day, the atmosphere was much different than the cold and dark night sky that was only lit up by the moon light the first time I had been here.

We parked, and Demetri turned his head to smile at me widely. He moved his hand to mine and squeezed it reassuringly, trying to make any worries of mine disappear as if the gesture had come naturally.

Maybe I was being overly dramatic, but I absolutely loved it when that boy touched me, whether it be my face or my hand or anything else. I almost wished he would touch me more, that he would touch those perfectly sculpted and soft lips to mine and... crap. I quickly tried to chase away those thoughts from my mind. I didn't know him well enough for those kinds of thoughts, no matter how much I wanted to think them. _If we are meant to be, it'll happen on it's own at the right time,_ I reminded myself.

With one final squeeze of my hand and a smile on his face, he said happily, "Now, let's go and introduce you to my family."

"Okay I..." I began, but forgot what I was going to say when I heard the driver's door shut quickly. I looked over to that door, expecting to find Demetri outside the window. I didn't, but was instantly startled when I heard the door next to me open just as quick. Dang, that boy was fast.

I jumped when I looked over to my right to see Demetri beside me holding the door open and still grinning. Well, he's definitely broken his sad spell, for the time being, that is. He stepped back, giving me space to walk outside and made a gentlemen like gesture away from the car, as if to say "ladies first," and holding his hand out to help me out.

Grinning like a moron, I laid my hand on his lightly and used it to hop out. It was completely not necessary, but being the gentleman that he was, I wasn't surprised at all for the most part by Demetri.

Demetri just returned the grin and chuckled to himself before he began to lead me to the front door of the elegant Victorian mansion. We were about to open the door, but before we even had the chance to touch the door it came flying open. Alice stood smiling like a happy child on Christmas morning in the doorway. Her happiness just made me smile even more. As if I didn't have a big enough smile on my face already, I thought, laughing in my head at the idea.

"Hey, Adalia!" she said showing all of her teeth in the biggest grin I've ever seen. "Hey, Alice, how have you been?" I said returning some of the enthusiasm, but only not with quite as much as hers. Instead of answering the question and with no given warning, she ran through the opening of the door in an excited rush and jumped on me, wrapping me in a huge welcoming hug. I shot a surprised look to Demetri, who just grinned in amusement and shrugged in response.

I was surprised, yes, but I did happen to enjoy her warm and enthusiastic welcome to me. Somehow I felt more welcomed, at home and comfortable being here. I didn't feel as much like a stranger anymore. Well, not at the moment at least. She wiped away all of my awkward and nervous feelings, but that would more than likely only be a temporary thing. It would all probably come back once I met the rest of the family, some making me more nervous than others.

It was only a shock to me because of how energetic and enthusiastic she was about seeing me. Then again, she has always seemed to be a great big (or small) bundle of energy. I found myself smiling with out even realizing it.

Maybe I could find acceptance here, where as I really haven't found it anywhere else. Some of my friends seemed to bring up my past (ahem, Sophia, who has been refusing to talk to me. I felt bad, but I tried not to be), so I knew that they haven't fully accepted me for me. With the exception of Kayla, Hannah and Landon that is. Kayla was my best friend out of the three, however, and I know for a fact that she doesn't judge me. She's on my side. She's a wonderful friend to me.

Wow, I really get off track when I'm day dreaming. The point is, I have a little feeling in the pit of my stomach telling me that this family would be just as great of friends and trustworthy as Kayla, if not more.

Alice had already backed away during my inner babbling, and then with a warm smile on her face said, "Come on in," as she motioned us inside. The interior looked just as I had remembered it, with its white foyer and two staircases meeting from opposite sides on the second floor above. It was so old fashioned, and reminded me as much of a fairytale as it had before. There were white and red roses all over the place, completing the elegant look perfectly.

In the foyer and ready to greet me was Esme and Carlisle. I smiled at them as they smiled at me with warm and welcoming expressions. They looked exactly the same as I had remembered them: impossibly beautiful and young for two adults raising so many teenagers.

"It's so nice to see you again, Adalia." said Esme as she crossed the room gracefully and held me in a gentle hug for a short moment. Her hug was definitely not as energetic and sudden as Alice's, but it was still comforting. Esme reminded me so much of my mom, in the way that she was just so motherly and kind. The reminder of how wonderful my mother had been caused a familiar empty pain to stab at my heart.

She pulled away, as I said, trying not to let my emotions and pain get the best of me, "It's so nice to see you again too, Esme." She smiled as Carlisle made his way to me and greeted me. "I'm glad to see you in healthy shape this time."

I laughed awkwardly, "Ehhh, yeah. I'm glad too." He smiled genuinely at me, and even though I was probably already smiling I felt my smile change from awkward to warm.

Esme walked in front of me, making a sweeping gesture to a door that led to a different room at the opposite end of the foyer. "Well, I think it's about time you really met the rest of our family, Adalia." My nerves came back to haunt me again. Obviously, the affects of Alice's welcoming and enthusiastic hug had worn off, just as I had predicted.

Within seconds, Demetri was by my side and holding my hand as if he held girl's hands all the time, and it didn't mean anything more than a comforting gesture. Holding my hand, he followed his parents and guided me to the door. I would have been caught grinning like a moron holding his hand had I not been totally nervous about meeting his family. I knew that behind this door, I would find the rest of the family I wanted so badly to impress. Hopefully I would succeed in making a more charming impression than making a complete and utter fool of myself.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**I say this a lot, I know, but thank you for reading, and please please review! I'd love to know what you love or hate. What are your reactions to the characters and the atmosphere of this story. How did this make you feel? Do you relate to the characters, and do you find your self feeling like you're in the story? If not, what would make this happen? I just really want to know all of your reactions, because I love feedback (mostly positive, like how much you like it, for example. If it's negative though, it'll do. Just make sure you can back it up and turn it into constructive criticism.)**

**Anyway, I apologize for this coming so late. I really hate it when I'm too busy to be consistent in my updates. Hopefully the next one will come sooner than this one has, but I'm making absolutely no guarantees.**

**I have no song this time because I have no more that would fit this chapter right. I'm thinking by the next chapter I'll have one though. If I find one for this one I'll also add that, but I figured getting the chapter up now is more important than making sure there's a song I can open it with. **


	12. Fever

**Tired and Uninspired by: My American Heart**

Home, was always quiet 'til the sun went down.  
But we were stowaways, yeah, we were so afraid.

So, we ran out of town.  
From everyone who was calling us out.  
Relax, relax. Exhale and breathe, just breathe for me.

You are the earth beneath my feet,  
You are my gravity.  
Cause lately I've been tired and uninspired.  
Cause lately I've been tired, oh-so tired.

Oh, then that flame, it went away.  
You knew you had to leave and couldn't stay.  
Be strong for me, I'll be strong for you.  
Be strong for me, I'll be strong for you.

You are the earth beneath my feet,  
You are my gravity.  
Cause lately I've been tired and uninspired.  
Cause lately I've been tired, oh-so tired.

And be strong for me.  
And be strong for me.  
And I'll be strong for you, oh, you.

You are the earth beneath my feet,  
You are my gravity.  
Cause lately I've been tired and uninspired.  
Cause lately I've been tired and uninspired.

You are the earth beneath my feet,  
You are my gravity.  
You are the earth beneath my feet.  
You are my gravity.

Cause lately I've been tired and uninspired.  
Cause lately I've been tired, oh-so tired.

* * *

Continuing to have a gentle, but firm hold on my hand in his much larger ones, Demetri and I paused as Esme and Carlisle swung open the door and entered the room. I couldn't let myself look in the room, because I didn't want to face the chance of freaking myself out and bolting in the opposite direction if I got a good look at the people in there. _You're such a damn baby_, I told myself, trying to snap myself out of this paranoia. I needed to get a freaking gut.

Instead of looking inside the room though, I looked up to Demetri who was already looking down at me way before I tilted my head up to realize it. He smiled warmly at me, "Are you ready?" he asked gently. I gulped, "Yes." I lied.

He seemed to detect that, but just smiled more, trying to radiate confidence into me so I wouldn't be so nervous. Gah, why was I even so nervous anyway? I nodded, and he led me through the door, all the while still holding my hand. I didn't want him to let me go.

"Hey" I greeted all of the Cullen's shyly. I scanned the room to see ten stunningly beautiful people sitting or standing on a long couch in their elegant living room. Esme and Carlisle stood on the side of the room as the family took their first real look at me, this time being an official meeting. Esme walked to the very left of the room to introduce me to everyone. Every movement she made was extremely graceful, just like that of a cat.

"This is Alice," she began, gesturing towards the tiny and energetic Alice hugging onto the blonde haired boy that I was pretty sure was her boyfriend. I still didn't know what his name was. As usual, Alice looked incredibly happy. Her boyfriend's expression was pleasant, but not quite as readable as Alice's.

"And this is Jasper Hale," she continued, gesturing towards the boy that Alice was clinging to. Jasper's lip tilted into a slight smile at me as he was introduced.

Esme moved on to their right to Rosalie, whose expression was just blank as she took a good look at me. Well, I guess blank is better than pure hatred. We're off to a good start. "This is Rosalie Hale," she said quickly, and I saw the slightest hint of a smile on Rosalie's perfect face, so faint that if I wasn't looking at her carefully at that moment, I wouldn't have noticed.

"And this is Emmett," she said, gesturing to the burly boy next to Rosalie who reminded me of a big, not so harmless teddy bear. He definitely looked like someone capable of doing some real damage to someone, but the look on his face completely contrasted the threatening size and strength of his body.

He smiled at me with almost as much enthusiasm as Alice, and I guess you could say he also reminded me of the big brother type who was also the class clown. I couldn't help but smile back at his child like grin.

Esme walked on down the line up of Demetri's family to stand in front of Edward and Bella. They both smiled at me sweetly, holding onto each other comfortably. They made the most adorable couple ever; they were even more beautiful together than Hannah and Landon. "This is Edward and Bella," she said before moving onto the next two people... wait, two? She stopped in front of Renesmee and another boy that I had never seen before.

He had russet brown skin and dark features, including his eyes and hair. His facial features were straight and well defined, and he definitely had a native American feel to his appearance. He had a muscular build and was incredibly tall, even taller than Demetri, and I knew that I would feel like a mere child next to him.

Esme's voice made me snap out of my mental babbling. "This is Renesmee," she told me, as Renesmee and I, my lab partner, exchanged smiles. "And this is Jacob Black," she concluded. I smiled at Jacob politely, while in my mind I was curious where he had come into the picture.

I forced myself to smile at each of them, even though I had a serious problem with stage fright and I got nervous and shaky when I was at the center of focus. "It is wonderful to finally meet all of you; officially, that is."

Emmett grinned mischievously at me, no doubt about to engage in his class clown antics that I could tell were there. "So this is the lovely girl that Demetri has been talking endlessly about for almost a month?"

I smiled and I could feel my cheeks begin to burn the color of my red hair. Sneaking a glance at Demetri, it looked like he was embarrassed by Emmett as well, looking from him to me to measure my reaction. I looked back to Emmett, who was staring at my blazing cheeks with amusement.

"Ohhh!" he laughed, and then turned to Bella, "Look, Bella, she has the same blushing tendency as you had." Edward looked at Bella, who looked amused but also slightly embarrassed herself. Edward looked reminiscent, but quickly elbowed Emmett.

"What?" he asked, still amused by the whole ordeal. I truly had no clue what they were talking about. I could only guess that Bella blushed a lot like I did.

Edward narrowed his eyes and then rolled them. "How about we keep the jokes to minimum until Adalia becomes a little more comfortable around us." he said, as if I wasn't here.

Awkwardly, I spoke up. "I, uh... I really don't mind. I guess my brother could have very well acted the same way.." I began, before I realized I was talking about my dead brother they didn't know existed.

Demetri shot a confused glance at me, and I suddenly got more nervous. "You have a brother?" he asked.

Stumbling along the words, trying to say them so that I wouldn't burst into tears, I said, "Um, yeah, I did... but he died." Oh, please don't make me elaborate so I can save myself from a mega embarrassing scene of the waterworks and a crazy explanation.

Esme looked at me sympathetically, my own pain obviously hurting even her too. "I'm so very sorry for your loss." she told me, her voice reflecting my emotions, which only fueled mine a little more seeing it affect someone else.

I scanned the rest of the family's faces, who each had common reactions: sympathy.

Edward looked understanding, "You don't need to talk about it, Adalia. We know it's probably very hard for you." All I could do was nod solemnly, until I felt someone close to me and a cold hand brush against my cheek wiping away the liquid under my eyes that I hadn't realized escaped. I looked up into his face, knowing it would be Demetri. His face was covered in pain and sadness, more so than the rest of his family.

I looked up into his sad eyes, remembering those walls that he had up. I had to get behind them, and soon. Whatever the cause of this, it could be serious. Chances are it was, which meant I needed to help him in any way I possibly could. The darkness and years of pain behind those eyes were enough to make me cry for whatever had caused him all of it, even though I had no clue what they were.

Trying to lift his spirits a little, I forced myself to smile at him, and soon I saw his sadness fade to a little smile. I looked away from Demetri, still smiling. "It's really okay, guys. I don't want to talk about it, but don't worry about me. It was a long time ago."

They didn't seem too convinced, but Alice quickly changed the subject. "Okay, well I think we should get going with the bonding. I have a feeling Adalia will be around for a long time." she said, smiling at me.

Renesmee's head shot up in interest, "How about some _girl _bonding time" she said, wagging her eye brows. Oh, goodness. I opened my mouth to begin giggling at them, but it seemed that Bella beat me to it. We were soon laughing together at they're silly girlishness.

"Oooo!" exclaimed Alice. I noticed Jasper chuckle to himself at them too. "What a wonderful idea, Renesmee." She turned to Demetri, "How about it, Demetri? Can we borrow your Adalia for a little while?"

I felt my blush return once again at how she said 'your Adalia' to Demetri; I liked the sound of it. Instead of answering her, Demetri looked at me to see if I approved. Well, here goes nothing. I might as well get this over with now. I nodded at Demetri, who nodded back to me.

He looked back at Alice, "Alright, you guys can do who knows what girls do in their spare time together."

Alice bounced up and down excitedly, and before I knew it she was grabbing my other hand that Demetri wasn't holding, causing me to stumble over my feet as she rushed through the house. With Bella and Renesmee behind us, she led me up the grand staircase. The staircase was draped all the way from the top to bottom with red and cream colored rug type thing. It seemed to flow gracefully all the way to the first floor. I was marveling at its beauty until we were soon going through a vintage styled brown walled hallway.

Soon we were turning into another room. I stumbled and sat down on the couch in the room when she stopped. Bella and Renesmee came in as I asked, "Where is Rosalie?" They exchanged glances before meeting my eyes. "She isn't really the most social person, sometimes. She'll get used to you." she said with a forced looking smile to try and reassure me.

Bella put her finger to her lip, tapping it as she thought. "For now, I think we should just talk and get to know each other. That seems like a good start." Alice opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted when Bella rolled her eyes and said, "You said yourself that she'll be around for a long time, now I think we should get to know her before you unload your fashion techniques on her."

I laughed, and Alice frowned heartily and didn't argue. "What do you want to know?" I asked between little coughs. Renesmee was the next to ponder her thoughts. After a while of biting her lip, she looked up at me with a curious smile. "Let's start with simple questions first -- is that your natural hair color?" she asked gesturing to my bright crayola colored hair. Of course I should have seen this coming though, it was a common question. Most people usually assumed it was from a box, but were shocked when I told them otherwise. My hair is a freak of nature.

I smiled awkwardly, "Yes, I've never dyed my hair before." The reactions I got were all the same, not fully convinced and/or shocked, as they tilted their heads to the sides and focused on my hair. I sighed, "It's the truth. I was born with this hair color." I said, lifting a piece of my hair up as if to demonstrate.

Bella bit her lip, still focusing on my hair with a scrunched up face. "I really like your hair, it's unique." Renesmee nodded, "And cool," she added.

"I agree with them, it totally compliments your skin and eye color, too."

I blushed a little, glad that they took that side of opinions rather than the side that hated it and used my hair color to make up insulting nicknames for me. 'Fire crotch' was a commonly used term, that aggravated me to no end.

"Thanks," I told them with a smile.

------------------

We went on talking about unimportant details of my life for who knows how long. When we were finally finished with the chat session, we all went down stairs.

It seemed that everyone was congregating in the living room again as we walked down stairs. Following after Alice, Bella and Renesmee, I walked into the room. Demetri's mood seemed to brighten a little when I walked in, and that made me happy.

I was just a little bothered though because as I walked in they all stopped talking, which immediately gave me the feeling that had just talking about me. Eh, oh well.

As I went over to sit beside Demetri on the couch, it seemed as though Emmett was in the same good mood as he was before. "Hey, Adalia, I came up with some nicknames for you." he said with a sly smile on his face.

"Oh, and what are those?" I asked as I sat down, watching Demetri roll his eyes at his brother.

"There's Smalls, Red, and Little Red. I kind of like Little Red, because it's like little red riding hood." he said, while pulling an imaginary hood over his head. He was clearly meaning about my red hair. I rolled my eyes at him dramatically, "Very clever" I stated sarcastically.

"Calm down, Little Red, I know how you red heads are fiery little things." My face fell into a sort of frown. Good god, I hated stereotypes. I knew he was joking though, so I quickly tried to cover up the frown.

I gave a smirk, "Very funny, but I assure you that stereotypes aren't always true for everyone."

He tilted his head and arched an eyebrow. He began to open his mouth to talk, but Demetri gave him a warning glance.

I sat back in the chair, and was very aware of the contact when my arm brushed against Demetri's. Temperature aside, the closeness and connection between us seemed to send electricity between our bodies, tingly and cold and hot all at the same time.

---------------------------------------

After talking to his family for a while and losing track of the time, I started to feel light headed and warm, although I was right beside Demetri and his coldness. Demetri eyed me suspiciously, clearly noticing my sudden dizziness and how I felt weird.

"Whoa," I said, "I feel dizzy." Demetri studied me, but all the while my head spun faster and a painful head ache joined the chaos. I heard murmuring of voices all around me as I shut my eyes. "She's sick..." a voice said.

I began coughing, and suddenly my body felt like it was burning at twice the temperature that a normal person should be. My head felt like it was going to explode. I slumped back in my seat, I wanted to sleep away the pain. I couldn't think straight at all with all of the chaos going on in my body.

I opened my eyes though to look at Demetri, who was now staring at me eyes wide with concern. I forced a smile at him, and he only looked sad and truly worried. He cared about me, I thought. He really cared about me.

He worked up a confident and caring look as he moved his hand to my forehead to press down. The coolness of his hand was a shock to my overheated body and I flinched, as did he. His cold hand was so much colder than I last remembered it being. He shot his family and me a look that said this was an emergency.

With no hesitation, Demetri jumped out of his seat gracefully and walked into another room. I opened my eyes quickly in response and looked after him confused, my head spinning. Out of the growing chaos in my head, a voice broke through. "We'll have you stay here until you feel better. Carlisle can help you more conveniently if you stay here tonight."

I looked toward the voice to find Esme and the rest of the family watching me with faces full of concern. Carlisle was missing too. I felt myself drift in and out of consciousness, while trying to keep myself awake. Soon Demetri came bursting through the door with a handful of supplies. He sat down next to me, taking out a thermometer and a damp wet cloth and ice.

He laid the damp cloth on my forehead when I leaned back, and with a shock I realized that this cloth was cold, probably to cool me down and sooth my headache.

My eyes were closed now, and covered with the cloth. I felt something poking at the opening of my mouth, trying to have me open it. I obeyed, and as a long shape entered my mouth, I realized that it was the thermometer.

I started to drift to sleep again, but was interrupted with a jolt as I was nudged and shaken gently. "Don't fall asleep, Adalia. You need to stay awake." I heard a voice that wasn't Demetri's say. Carlisle, I guessed.

After a while of having the thermometer under my tongue, it beeped. I felt someone take it out of my mouth gently, and Carlisle announced the temperature. "106 degrees," he told the room. There was a sudden quietness and awkward pause in the room as the information sunk in.

A familiar females voice, though I couldn't tell who it was, because I was too out of it and sounds were beginning to blend together, was the first to talk. "Wait... isn't 106 degrees like a death zone? Isn't it so dangerous that it can basically fry your brain?"

I realized with a pain in my chest that this wasn't even close to normal. Oh my god, if I get brain damage....

"Yes, Renesmee," said Demetri after a long, painful pause. "It's hot enough to kill someone." Every word that he spoke was quiet and painful to even listen to. His words where filled with a deep pain and worry.

Carlisle's voice sounded over everyone else's murmurs, urgent and in charge. "We need to get her cooled down. Demetri, can you draw a bath of cold water for her to soak in while I get ice to put in? Since we're at home, we must do this the old fashioned way."

I grimaced; my brain was working well enough to know that it would be awful to take a bath, especially in this position, in a tub of ice. I got the shivers just imagining it.

My eyes were still closed, trying to relax and not strain myself to keep them open. Suddenly, someone picked me up into their arms as if I didn't weigh anything and, quickly, I might add, carried me up the stairs and into another room.

I opened my eyes and found myself in a large bathroom. I was laid out on the rug, as Demetri was leaning over the Jacuzzi tub running freezing cold water. He turned around and then looked lost as to what he should do. He looked up making a face and looked stressed out.

He finally looked at me, realizing that I had my eyes open. Slowly, choosing his next words carefully, he said, "We need to put you in the tub, but I don't think that having all of your clothes on would be wise..." he said. I realized what he was trying to get across. Being the gentleman that he is, he didn't want to strip me of all my clothes without my consent. He said it awkwardly as if it was very wrong of him. Feeling a bit of strength that I knew wouldn't last, I saved him the trouble.

"Underwear." I croaked out. He looked up at me, confused at first and then unsure if he really should. He probably felt like seeing me in my underwear would be violating me. Surprisingly, I really didn't even care if he saw me naked. There are more important things going on, I needed to make sure I didn't die from my brain being fried before I began worrying about modesty. I trusted Demetri, anyway. I wasn't self conscious about that right now, that would be pointless.

Carlisle, Edward, Jasper and Emmett burst through the door with large bags of ice. The entire family stood in the hallway watching with worry written all over their faces, scared for me. I took my attention off of them and to Demetri. I looked at him straight in the eyes, holding his gaze so that I could get it through to him confidently. "Underwear." I told him with my last bit of strength. All of the pain surged and increased, and with a gasp, I found the light room darkening as I blacked out.

--------------------------------------------------------------

My consciousness was only a dim flicker, who knows how long later. I heard bits and pieces of mumbled voices, and it seemed very dream-like. "It's a miracle that she's even alive..." said one male voice. "....We need to make sure this doesn't happen again...."

"... it won't work..." said a frustrated and scared female voice. "I can't see her, she's blocked out of my visions...... like Renesmee and Jacob." She seemed to be getting more frantic and worried as she was talking. Who is this 'she' that she's talking about?

Another voice, a male's voice I didn't recognize, began talking. ".... Does that mean that she's like them? A hybrid? Or does that mean she really isn't _there_ anymore."

"I don't know..." said the female's voice painfully. Gradually, my consciousness came back to me, and I was more awake. The voices were coming more clearly to me and I knew what was going on. The people in this room were talking about me.

There was a long, pained silence as the people in the room pondered this. Finally, a very familiar male voice shocked me by its nearness to my ear. "She won't die, we can't let that happen. I won't let that happen."

Suddenly, I was able to feel again. There was a light sheet of fabric laying over me, and, oddly enough, there was a body pressed against me, keeping me cooled off. I scrunched up my forehead, confused. "We know that, and we won't either...." began another male voice, but was interrupted by me flickering my eyes open. As I did, the whole room paused and their attention was on me, staring at me. I must have been out a long time.

I felt like I had hit my head, my eye lids still heavy. I looked around, confused, at the staring faces. "You're awake," stated that familiar voice that was so close to me. I quickly jerked over towards the person. Demetri.

He was right next to me, hugging onto me with his arms around me. I felt like my heart was about to melt from the closeness of our bodies. I took in my surroundings. Demetri and I were lying on a couch in a small living room type room that wasn't the same one we'd been in earlier. The whole family was tightly packed into the room, some pacing or sitting stress-fully.

I looked back to Demetri, "What's going on?" I asked, my voice a little raspy. "How long have I been out for?"

They all stared back at me sadly, obviously their previous discussion about my possible death getting to them. My death...

Demetri looked at me with a warm look in his eyes, trying to comfort me. "You've been unconscious for most of the night." he said gently.

I nodded solemnly, glancing down at the closeness of our bodies. We both were sharing a light colored and thin sheet that was draped over us. Demetri noticed the questioning look in my eyes, and began to explain.

"We put you into the ice bath for a while, but we had to take you out before you got hypothermia. You're temperature has gone down, but it's still rather high. This," he gestured down, "is because, well.." he said, struggling for the words. "Since I'm much cooler than you, we figured it would help keep your temperature down." His frown turned up into a little sad smile. "It's kind of like that old trick to stay close to people to use each other's body heat to stay warm, only we're using my lack of heat to cool you down."

I smiled back at him, trying to brighten his mood, but obviously still a little out of it.

"We called your father to see if he would agree to letting you stay for a while until you get better. We think that would be wise if you were to stay here, so that we could take care of you if this were to happen again. He agreed and he'll come by tomorrow." Esme told me. She gave me a warm, motherly but sad smile, "He's very worried about you, as are we."

I felt tired and overwhelmed. I still couldn't think straight, but that wasn't because of any pain. I couldn't feel any pain anymore, actually. I was just overwhelmed with this turn of events. I felt drowsy and empty, like I'd just slept away a huge part of my day and didn't fully understand what was going on.

Putting my hand to my head, I said, "You were all talking about something when I was waking up... what was that?" I said, trying to remember. "Something about me... dying?" I choked on the last word. I really didn't feel like that was a possibility right now, I just felt exhausted, confused and overwhelmed. As I mentioned the idea of my death, Demetri's arms around me seemed to tighten possessively, like he was holding onto me for dear life involuntarily.

"Do you have a headache again?" asked Carlisle, ignoring my question but the sad look in his face told me he did that on purpose to change the subject.

"No," I shook my head, "I don't have a headache, I'm just trying to think. What were you guys talking about?"

They all exchanged looks, obviously pained by the question. Demetri looked at me, his sad warm eyes staring into my own with worry. "We don't know if you're going to die, and that might not be a possibility. But tonight, it was a miracle you didn't. Your temperature went up so high that it's really even a miracle that your brain cells are still working, let alone the fact that your heart is still beating and you're breathing."

I looked down, letting the information sink in. After a while, I looked up to them. "I don't feel like I'm going to die, I don't think I will."

Demetri shook his head. "I won't let that happen, either way." I let my lips turn up into a smile at the way that he said that so passionately. He wanted me around, and it was more than just the regular person not wanting someone to, well, die. He wanted me around, _me_. Not just the idea of a human life being preserved. I almost felt like crying in happiness, happy that someone besides my actual family seemed to care about me so much. Especially someone I cared about myself so much like Demetri. I wouldn't let anything happen to him, either.

"I trust you." I whispered, more to myself than to him. He caught that, though, and he jerked his head up at me in surprise and his frown slowly changed into a smile. That spark of happiness in him made me extremely satisfied and happy that my trust mattered to him.

The rest of the room waited quietly to speak for a moment. Carlisle was the first to speak after the silence.

"So we'll have you stay here for the time being, just to make sure everything goes well. It probably won't be for too long, but we just wanted to be safe." He looked around at his family members, "I think that we'd better leave so that you can rest."

He said goodbye and that he wished me well before he left. The rest of the Cullen's followed with a chorus of good-byes and something along the lines of "I hope you feel better soon". After they all left, I realized that me and Demetri were alone in the cozy room, cuddled up next to each other.

I looked into his eyes, and he seemed to be realizing the same thing. Although, this seemed to be something he's been thinking about far longer than I had. "So... what are we going to do now?" I asked with a little smile. It was almost awkward being this close to him, yet it was extraordinarily enjoyable. I like how our bodies fit together, soft against hard. He made me feel small and delicate, which at the moment, I really enjoyed. I just liked being close to him; being in his arms.

I was more sensitive to his touch now; I could really feel his arms around me and the way we were pressed against each other. My heart melted with the way it felt.

He smiled unconsciously, and then his smile faltered back to sadness. I wanted him to be happy, he needs to be happy. He looked down at the sheets, "I'm really sorry about this." he said. I was confused, but then he lifted up the sheets and I realized what he was worried about. Under the sheets, I was in only my underwear. I could feel my cheeks burning in embarrassment, but my heart seemed to beat faster with an unexpected excitement. Stupid teenage hormones.

He looked guilty. "I'm so sorry I had to do that for the ice bath. I would have put your clothes back on..." he said awkwardly, looking back down at where the sheet was, obviously fully aware of my half naked body. There was a sort of longing when he looked at me, but it was smothered with guilt and pain. "I would have, but more clothes would have made your temperature hotter. And I wouldn't be doing this..." he said, gesturing to the way we were pressed against each other, "But this is helping your temperature stay down." he said sheepishly.

"Demetri..." I started, trying to lessen his guilt. "If I remember correctly, I told you to do this. My health is more important to me than my modesty." He looked away from me, still looking guilty. I sighed, and took his cheek in my hand to turn his head to me.

Looking straight in his eyes, I said, "Really, you're not taking advantage of me or anything. Because of you doing this, I'm not brain dead, or whatever the result of too-high temperatures would be. Thank you."

That seemed to do it. He looked back at me surprised, but not as sad or guilty as before. Aware of how uncovered I was, but wanting to close the distance even further, I did something that surprised even me. I hugged onto him more, holding him closer to me. I wrapped my bare legs around his, intertwining them together. He was as cold as I remembered, but I didn't even bother to ask him why. It wasn't important to me right now. It made my over heated body feel so much better and satisfied my need to be close to him, for now.

I laid my head right beneath his chin on his chest, holding onto him as if he would disappear. He was startled at first, but soon he was also holding onto me tightly. I relaxed, surprised this was even happening, and enjoyed it.

I knew that this was probably slut territory, but it wasn't just for lust or anything of that nature. Of course, I did find him incredibly attractive, but that still wasn't the main reason. It's like we connected; I wanted to be closer to him, physically and mentally. It felt nice to be this close to him. He was very cuddly and comfortable. I just wanted to hold onto him as he held me back and never let go because it was like heaven being here in his arms. It would probably be more innocent if I were in clothes, but oh well, I guess

In my ear, he whispered softly, "You really shouldn't trust me, you know."

This made me look up at him, my face inches above his as I looked into his eyes. "I don't agree with you. And even if I did, that wouldn't change the fact that I do trust you. I trust you with my life."

He turned our bodies into a different position, so that instead of me looking down at him, he was over me. He looked into my eyes with an intensity that filled my soul, "You shouldn't" he repeated, gently but seriously.

I laid my head back on the soft pillow, and I prepared myself to mimic his intensity as I stared back into his eyes. Instead, the way he was looking at me caught me off guard. He looked at me with adoration in his eyes as he looked into mine. The melting feeling came back.

He rested his hand on my cheek gently as he lay nearly on top of me. With our eyes still locked, he began leaning down to me. I held my breath as he slowly got closer, my heart beat racing. His lips were right above my own. I closed my eyes, preparing to feel the touch of his lips on mine. When I didn't feel anything, I opened my eyes to see him paused with barely any space between his lips and mine. I wanted so badly to just close the distance.

He hesitated, and quickly changed the direction of his focus from my lips to my forehead. He placed a small and gentle kiss on my forehead, and then looked back to me.

"You should rest now." he told me. I was disappointed, but I was too surprised to argue. Besides, it would be pointless; I was exhausted. I inhaled deeply after holding my breath while waiting for the kiss as I gave up. He switched positions again so that he was on his back and so that I could comfortably lay next to him without him squishing me.

I wasn't going to give up on the closeness though, so I continued to hold him tightly and laid my head on his chest. Even though he was hard and cold, he was extremely comfortable to me. I felt like I could just lay with him forever.

His face was contorted with that sadness that was so familiar to me now. Frowning in silence, I stared at the window. The moon stood in the middle of the blackened and mysterious night sky, surfacing from the darkness. It lit up the night with all of its beauty, while it was surrounded by darkness all around it.

In a way, the moon was very much like Demetri. He lit up my life, with all of his mysterious beauty and the joy that he brought to me. He didn't even have to try to make me happy, it all happened naturally. Like the moon lighting up the night sky, he lit up my life. But this was when he wasn't hiding behind the darkness of his life, or in the moon's case, the darkness of the night.

He doesn't see that beauty in himself that I see every day, and on more than one occasion has led me to believe he thinks he's something less than wonderful. His life is filled with darkness everywhere, and he always seems so alone and sad. Metaphorically speaking, Demetri is the moon.

I let my thoughts surround me, as I eventually drifted off to sleep while we held each other in our arms in the moon light.

**

* * *

****I really hope you enjoyed this chapter! =]**

**Please take the time to leave a review, it means the world to me. I crave your opinions. Oh and check out My American Heart (performers of the song found way above); they are one of my favorite bands.**

**Many thanks to my Beta Reader, Kelly. =]**

**PS. I got the Twilight dvd, haha.**


	13. Moonlight

**Almost Lover by: A Fine Frenzy**

Your fingertips across my skin  
The palm trees swaying in the wind  
Images  
You sang me Spanish lullabies  
The sweetest sadness in your eyes  
Clever trick

Well, I never want to see you unhappy  
I thought you'd want the same for me

Goodbye, my almost lover  
Goodbye, my hopeless dream  
I'm trying not to think about you  
Can't you just let me be?  
So long, my luckless romance  
My back is turned on you  
Should've known you'd bring me heartache  
Almost lovers always do

We walked along a crowded street  
You took my hand and danced with me  
Images  
And when you left, you kissed my lips  
You told me you would never, ever forget  
These images

Well, I'd never want to see you unhappy  
I thought you'd want the same for me

Goodbye, my almost lover  
Goodbye, my hopeless dream  
I'm trying not to think about you  
Can't you just let me be?  
So long, my luckless romance  
My back is turned on you  
Should've known you'd bring me heartache  
Almost lovers always do

I cannot go to the ocean  
I cannot drive the streets at night  
I cannot wake up in the morning  
Without you on my mind  
So you're gone and I'm haunted  
And I bet you are just fine

Did I make it that easy  
To walk right in and out of my life?

Goodbye, my almost lover  
Goodbye, my hopeless dream  
I'm trying not to think about you  
Can't you just let me be?  
So long, my luckless romance  
My back is turned on you  
Should've known you'd bring me heartache  
Almost lovers always do.

* * *

_I was prancing through the beautiful forest, completely blissed out. It felt like the innocence of a summer day as a child. I had nothing to worry about, only what I would do next. Would I go swimming in the pond surrounded by trees and waterfall? Or would I decide to go sit in the flowers and soak up the sun? I didn't know, but I also didn't care._

_In the breezy afternoon in the sunlit forest, I saw a familiar slender woman facing away from me. Her long, pale hair flowed in the breeze and glistened brilliantly like gold in the sun._

_Pleasantly surprised and curious, I walked closer to her. I smiled peacefully at her back, and began to lift my hand to her shoulder until she turned around swiftly to stare into my face. It was my mother; I could recognize her flawless and angelic beauty anywhere. Her beautiful features were contorted and terrified as she looked at me. She was afraid of someone who was also advancing near where we were. _

_"Mom?" I asked, my once carefree attitude vanished. I felt like if I didn't end up fainting, I'd throw myself into her arms crying on her narrow shoulder. I hadn't realized before now how much I wanted my mother here for me, to comfort me. I wanted my mother back. I could feel the wetness forming in my eyes. _

_With a fearful and urgent look in her sea foam green eyes, she began to warn me. "Adalia, you must be very cautious. There is a danger that you can't imagine stalking you, waiting in the darkness to show its self. By then, it will be too late. Be careful..." she continued, but she was fading away. _

_"Mom!" I screamed, flailing my hands at her as if I could catch her. I caught a glimpse of another, terrifying dark haired figure in corner of my vision. He was dark, and not a good person. This wasn't a dream anymore, this was now a nightmare. Before I knew it, my mother and the man were gone, and the forest had disappeared with her. _

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

I found myself not in the forest, but in a small room. I was sitting up in my bed, crying from the dream I had. It all seemed too real, and I didn't think that something like seeing my mother in a dream of mine, for the ten hundredth time, would have that affect on me.

But it was the way that she looked so frightened, and her message was urgent. Not only that, but this wasn't just a dream about the past, this was present tense. Like it was some sort of premonition for the future that was delivered via my dreams.

It was my mother, in present tense, warning me of some danger ahead. It was new, not something that my mind replayed over and over from my childhood. It sounded crazy, but I really think that it was more than _just_ a dream. It was somehow… _real_.

And what was she trying to warn me about? I gulped, suddenly scared out of my mind. Something bad was going to happen, yet I couldn't begin to guess. Somewhere in the back of mind I knew exactly who it would probably be, the warning that the man in the woods told me about my brother and I never escaping him.

I pondered all of this, while holding my head in my hands as a headache began to form. I was so deep in my thoughts that I was startled when someone gently tapped my shoulder. I looked up out of my sweaty hands to see Edward looking at me with a worried expression.

I imagined that I looked like I had been crying, so I understood where that was coming from. "Oh, hi," I said quietly. His worried expression remained the same. "I was told I should check up on you; see how you were doing this morning."

"I'm fine." I told him. He didn't seem fully convinced. "What's wrong?" he asked gently.

"It's… it's nothing. There's just a lot to think about right now." He frowned, "You can talk to Demetri, me or the rest of us for that matter if you need to. Sometimes it helps to talk to people about things that are on your mind." He seemed genuine and I contemplated telling someone about it, mainly Demetri.

I then realized that I couldn't tell anyone though, this was one of those things that would lead people to thinking my sanity is not intact. I would have to keep the dream premonition to myself, for now. I shook my head again. "Thanks, I just don't think it's something I could talk to someone about."

He smiled at me thoughtfully, "You would actually be surprised how much you could tell us, we would understand."

I sighed and bit my lip. "You would be surprised how much you _wouldn't_ understand." He didn't reply to that, but I knew by the look in his eyes that he disagreed.

I sighed and looked around. I remembered everything that happened last night. Demetri was there with me. I remembered how he looked at me with adoration and the way we were laying next to each other all night. The space on the bed beside me was empty though. I looked up to Edward, confused. He spoke before I could even ask the question.

"About half of the family, including Demetri, had to go out and... do some things. You just missed Demetri, actually; they just left. He didn't want to leave you, but I told him that the rest of the family that stayed and I would watch after you until he came back. He shouldn't be gone too long."

"Oh, okay." I said simply, and then looked around the room in more detail. The sky outside the window was bright and sunny today, which was rare for the town of rainier, Oregon. The room was the same as I remembered it, except instead of moon light filling it there was sun light.

I looked over the bed again, wishing that Demetri was there beside me. My vision drifted to the end of the bed. There was a small pile of clothes neatly folded there. I squinted my eyes, and then realized that these were my clothes.

I automatically looked down to check myself. I remembered that I had been in my underwear almost all night to keep my high temperature down, but I wasn't anymore. I had unfamiliar clothing on; a comfortable but cute teal t shirt and black sweat pants. I lifted my attention to Edward, and as he had been before, he was one step ahead of my questions.

"No, those aren't yours. Since Alice and you are similar sizes, she offered to let you borrow some of her more comfortable and casual clothes. She put them on you not long before I came in here while you were sleeping."

"Wow, I must have really been out, because I don't remember any of that happening."

He smiled, "She mentioned something about that."

I tapped my fingers on the bed, "Oh, well tell her I said thanks for the clothes."

Seeming to be reminded of something by that, he focused more and changed the subject. "You can tell her yourself, actually. She's still here."

"Oh, okay. Where-" I began, but was interrupted by my growling stomach. I blushed, embarrassed by how loud and obnoxious it was. He smiled, trying hard not to laugh at me. "I can bring you to the kitchen to get something for that stomach of yours. I'm sure that we'll run into her on the way there."

I agreed, and he led me through the kitchen. It seemed so much emptier and unfamiliar this morning, but I didn't know why. Edward looked at me, "You've progressed at a remarkable rate so far. Carlisle was thinking about letting you go home tonight if everything goes well today. You're barely even sick anymore."

"Oh, well that's good. Last night was..." I grimaced, remembering the pain. "Scary," I finished. He thought back on it too, "It was scary indeed, for us as well. I think Demetri got the most scared out of all of us, though."

I jerked my head to him, "What?" I knew what he said, but for some reason this was surprising and the reality hit me. I shouldn't be so surprised but for some reason I was. We were at the door to the kitchen now, and we paused.

"He really cares about you, Adalia," He said with genuine sincerity. "He doesn't want to see anything life threatening happening to you."

All I could do was blush and grin shyly. It always filled me with a surprising joy when I heard something like that. I was so glad that Demetri, someone that I cared about so much, cared about me back. It was one of those priceless joys that are sometimes taken for granted.

Suddenly, I heard a voice call my name, and Alice came bursting through the kitchen doors to greet me. "You're awake!" she said happily as she hugged me. "I made you some breakfast in the kitchen. I made you scrambled eggs. I don't cook very often, so I hope that you like them."

"Okay, I love scrambled eggs." I said, following her into the kitchen. As I followed, Edward put his hand on my shoulder to stop me. "Wait," he told me, as he began searching through his pocket.

When he found what he was looking for, he pulled out a folded piece of paper. "Here," he began, while handing it to me. "Demetri wrote this for you before he left. It was the only way he would agree to leave."

I took it out of his hands, and began opening it, until Edward stopped me. "You should probably go eat your eggs first. That way they don't get cold and so that Alice doesn't get impatient." He said jokingly.

I laughed, "Oh, alright, I'll go eat." I turned to follow Alice into the kitchen. As expected, scrambled eggs were on their beautiful island counter waiting to be eaten. Alice was walking around, grabbing an assortment of things to go with it.

I sat down, and she walked over to me with a handful of things. "Here," she told me, that familiar smile on her face. She handed me pepper, cheese, and other seasonings, while she set down a plate that held buttered toast. She looked like she was proud of herself for cooking. I smiled at her, "Thanks, Alice. This is really nice of you."

"It was no problem; it was actually kind of fun." I smiled and laughed a little, while taking a bite into my eggs. I looked up at her, "So what's everyone out doing?" I asked. Her smile turned upside down, and I could tell that this was something she didn't know how to answer.

"It's nothing, really." She said reluctant to tell anymore. I was more curious now, because it was obviously a big deal. I bit my tongue though, I've learned to try and not be nosy.

"It's okay, Alice. If it's private or something I don't need to know." I told her. She frowned, but didn't go on. Instead, she changed the subject to something else. "Carlisle said that you are getting better."

"Yeah, I hope that I get better soon. It's Friday, isn't it?" I asked. She nodded. I finally realized what that meant and slapped my hand to my head for forgetting. "What?" she asked. I groaned, "It's my birthday tomorrow, I can't believe I actually forgot about that."

She suddenly got excited at the idea of my birthday being tomorrow. "Oh, I should throw you a party! How old will you be?" she said bouncing up and down. Her energy never ceased to amuse me.

I smiled, "I'm going to be seventeen." She smiled, getting more excited as she thought, probably planning out a party in her head. I rolled my eyes and smiled, "I don't need a party, you know."

"Of course you need a party," she argued. I didn't feel like arguing that I didn't need one. A party might actually be nice. I sighed and shrugged jokingly, "Okay, you can throw me a party, I guess." She grinned, and threw her arms around me. "Oh, thank you Adalia! You'll enjoy it, trust me. Now that we're friends, it's the least I could do."

I smiled at how she said that we're friends now, and I coughed. "Well, I guess I'm not completely healed just yet," I said. Her expression was now worried and saddened. "What?" I asked. She shook her head, trying to break herself out of the thought that was making her frown. "I just hope you don't get sick like that again. I don't think any of us could handle it if something happened this time, especially Demetri. You were very lucky.

I frowned at the thought of Demetri being even unhappier if something happened to me. "Sometimes I worry about him," I confessed, but I hardly even realized I was saying it out loud. She frowned too, "I worry about him sometimes, too." We shared glances at each other, and for a moment I knew that we probably would become great friends. We both loved Demetri, except, if I had to admit it myself; I loved him in a much different way than she did. At that moment, I realized that I didn't love him like a brother or a friend; this was a much deeper love. This kind of love scared me and made me happy all at once.

She stood up straight and shifted her weight. "I'll let you eat for a little while, I'll see you later." she smiled. I nodded, and I was soon alone in the room. Eating my eggs in silence allowed me to let my thoughts wander. There was too much to think about. I really wanted to help Demetri; I needed to know what was wrong with him.

I frowned, and remembered the note that he wrote me. I pulled it out of my pocket and unfolded it. It was a letter that read:

_Dear Adalia, _

_I'm so sorry that I had to leave, but I will be back soon. Alice, Bella, Renesmee, Edward, and Jasper stayed at the house to look after you while I'm out for a little while. I trust that they'll make you feel at home. I truly am sorry about last night; you don't deserve any of that. I hope that you are feeling better, and I'll see you soon. I miss you, and I can't wait to come back. We have a lot to talk about in the next couple of days. _

_Love, Demetri_

It was written in perfect, fancy handwritten calligraphy. We've went over that in art, and it was quite challenging to get it just right. It was written like he was a natural at it. It resembled the original calligraphy from way back when, when they would use feathers as the pen and ink. It was definitely impressive, and a mystery how he knew how to do it so well. I also couldn't get over what he wrote in general. 'I miss you', and 'I can't wait to come back." Then there was "We have a lot to talk about in the next couple of days," and "Love, Demetri." The butterflies made a comeback at the concept of him loving me.

Memories from last night flooded my mind. I remembered the way that he looked at me with such admiration, and the way that he almost kissed me and we held each other so close. I remembered going to sleep, watching the window and also how the moonlight looked when it washed over us. He reminded me of the moon; I remembered drawing that comparison.

I finished my breakfast, and I hurried to explore the house. I suddenly felt the urge to play the piano, because I suddenly had a melody in my head. It was a melody inspired by Demetri. I walked through the foyer and to another room was attached. In an old house like this, there could be a piano. The room I walked into, did, indeed have a piano. This piano was no ordinary piano, however. It was a beautiful and vintage grand piano, which was probably over 100 years old. The room was like a library, with rows and rows of books and music.

I scanned over the books, there were so many of them. There were old classics, like Jane Austen, and newer ones by Chuck Palahniuk. I loved to read, and I always had. It was like entering an entirely new world and escaping reality for a while.

Noticing the title _Pride and Prejudice_ on the shelves, I noted to myself to read it sometime. I walked quietly over to the piano and sat down. Beside the piano, there was a music cabinet and I curiously but sneakily opened it to inspect its contents. I pulled out an old, discolored and fragile pile of papers. They had worn out ink, and it had that dusty scent of old library books that have had plenty of time to age. Most of them were torn and tarnished.

There were so many titles, from so many different decades, and even centuries. There were prints of classic waltz that were copyrighted in the 1800's all the way up to the 1970's. They were so old, and I felt like they would crumble in my hands. I delicately put them all back before I accidentally caused them damage. I would feel awful if I destroyed the Cullen's beautiful antique pieces.

I turned so that I faced the piano, and lifted my hands over them flexing my fingers. I tried to remember what that melody that I was inspired to play was. I was thinking about Demetri at the time, and how he reminded me of the moon. And that was it, the melody clicked into my mind as I flexed my fingers once more before lowering them to the piano keys.

I let my fingers glide over the keys, letting my natural ability to play and my years of practice do their job. I was never a professional at the art, but I did know enough to write a song of my own. I let the song flow out of me. In the midst of the sudden burst of music coming from me and into the piano, I sang my thoughts on Demetri last night.

"_Shadows all around you, as you surface from the dark. Emerging from the gentle grip of night's unfolding arms. Darkness, darkness everywhere, do you feel all alone? The subtle grace of gravity; the heavy weight of stone. You don't see what you possess, a beauty calm and clear. It floods the sky and blurs the darkness, like a chandelier. All the light that you possess is skewed by lakes and seas. The shattered surface, so imperfect, is all that you believe._"

The words spilled out of me so naturally that it surprised me. I've never completed a song before, but this seemed to come out of me so easily. The words were sung passionately, as this was something that I truly believed. Demetri needed to see how beautiful he was. I couldn't stand to see him unhappy. I continued singing after a brief moment of playing the piano, letting my frustrations out in poetic and melodic form.

"_I will bring a mirror; so silver, so exact, so precise and so pristine, a perfect pane of glass. I will set the mirror up, to face the blackened sky. You will see your beauty every moment that you rise._"

I played the piano for a few moments more, my mind completely lost in the melody and the passion that I felt for the song. It felt freeing, and I realized how wonderful it must be for musicians to create songs that have their heart and souls in it.

I was completely calmed and the stress of the day seemed to have been erased as I finished the song with a final note. Suddenly and unexpectedly, I heard someone applaud behind me softly. I twirled around quickly and nervously, my heart beat racing.

It was Edward, and I sighed as I caught my breath. "Hi." I said, looking away. He had a soft smile on his lips as he spoke. "You're very good," he told me.

I smiled awkwardly, but then realized how long he must have been listening. My cheeks burning from embarrassment, I asked in a rush, "How long have been standing there?" He looked away as he looked nervous about answering me. "Oh god, you must have been there the whole time." I said, covering my face in horror and humiliation. He walked over and sat next to me on the bench. When I looked back at him he was sympathetic. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about. That was a wonderful song. Did you write that yourself?" He looked like he already knew the answer, but was asking anyway.

"Yeah. Well, I didn't actually write it down or anything, I just... winged it, basically."

"That's extraordinary. You have a natural talent." I thought about that for a moment, and I didn't know how to answer. "Thanks," I told him simply but happily, even though I didn't believe that I did.

He sat on the side near the open music cabinet doors, and turned around to eye me suspiciously in a joking manner. "I see that you explored our music cabinet." I began blushing again. "I'm sorry about that," I told him nervously. "I was curious. There are so many old pieces in there; it's incredible."

He smiled knowingly, "Yes, our family has been collecting them for decades. Well, mostly I have been collecting them. I have the most interest in the piano."

"You play the piano?" I asked, getting more comfortable being able to talk about common interests. "Yes, I have my whole life," he answered with a proud smile. I bit my lip, "I bet you're really good then. My knowledge and talents on the piano are lacking. I've been focusing more on the guitar lately."

He smiled, "I'd like to say I'm good, not to be big headed. You are very good though; I think you have plenty of musical talent." I laughed and snorted mockingly, "Me? Musical talent? I wish that I did, but I'm not entirely convinced that this is the case."

"Did you hear yourself play just now?" he quizzed me with an arched eyebrow. I nodded, even though I was too into the music to properly pay attention to how I sounded. "And you said that you 'winged it', which I presume means that it was done as you went along, without any premeditated plans on what you were doing?" I nodded again.

"Then don't you see? That was a wonderful song, lyrically and musically, and it all flowed out of you naturally. That's talent."

I just nodded, seeing his point. It was unreal to think that I had musical talent, in the way that he was saying. It made me feel like I was getting more credit than I deserved, even though I did all of it myself. "And, you're humble about it," he continued, "that's a great trait for a musician. But you should still give yourself credit, rather than selling yourself short."

"Thanks," I smiled and nodded again, at a loss of words. I really had no idea what to say beyond that. He smiled at me, probably guessing this was the case. "Who was that about?" he asked, but something in his eyes told me that he already knew quite well who I was singing about. Nervously, I looked away, feeling awkward again. "Um, it's about a… friend of mine." I didn't want to come right out and say it was about Demetri, even though he could probably tell somehow.

"It's about Demetri, isn't it?" he said, seeming to reflect my thoughts. I nodded awkwardly. He nodded too along with me, "You really care for him, don't you?" I didn't hesitate to answer "yes." He looked away, his thoughts drifting to something else with worry. "Then you see how unhappy he is sometimes." He didn't ask this; he stated it. "Yes" I told him anyway, I didn't need to think about the answer for that either. He turned to me to meet my gaze, with deep emotion and sincerity filling his gold eyes. "You make him happier than he's been in years, and I am really glad that he's found you. Granted, it may be too early to see how things go, I think that you two will last a very long time."

My thoughts turned into words as I quietly spoke. "He makes me happier than I've been in years, also." Edward smiled thoughtfully at me, "And that's precisely why you two make a wonderful match." I smiled to myself, but then realized what he meant and looked at him. "Wait, Demetri and I aren't a couple." With a soft smile, he said, "You'd be surprised what could happen."

I thought about this, when light footsteps walked into the room. We both looked towards the door to find Bella. "There you are," she said, "I've been looking everywhere for you." Then she noticed that we were sitting at the piano, and realization hit. "Oh, I see you discovered the grand piano, Adalia," she said with a warm smile. I smiled back at her, "Yes, it is so beautiful."

She walked closer to us and sat on a stylish and vintage looking cushioned couch that was near us. "So you like the piano?" she asked. I nodded, like I seemed to be doing quite a lot today. She smiled at Edward and I. "Edward is a great piano player; it seems that you two have an interest in that in common."

"I'm not that great at it." I told her, but Edward gave me a look. "Adalia here is a phenomenal pianist so far, but she doesn't seem to know it yet." He told her. She laughed, and looked at me. "Did Edward play anything for you yet?"

"No," I said, suddenly getting interested to see just how great of a pianist he was. She looked to Edward, "You should show her the lullaby." He smiled at her, the love that he had for her radiating between them. Still smiling, he turned around to the piano. I got up so that he would have easier access to all of the keys and sat beside Bella on the couch. Edward began playing a beautiful melody that I could barely believe he was even playing. It was absolutely gorgeous. I turned to Bella, who watched him with a happy smile on her beautiful face. "That's so good," I whispered to her. She turned to look at me. "It is, he wrote it himself -- for me." I turned to gape at him in wonder. Not only did he write this himself, but he wrote the beautiful and enchanting piece for the girl that he loved. If that wasn't romantic, I didn't know what was.

"That's incredible, and you two are so beautiful together," I gushed. She smiled happily and looked down into her lap, looking like a sweet teenage girl who's just found her first love. "Thank you, Adalia. I love him so much; I still can't believe he's mine." I smiled at how passionate and happy she sounded, and for a moment I felt like maybe true love did exist after all. Edward threw a look over his shoulder at her, "It is I who is surprised that I actually have you." The beauty of their love really made me almost want to cry. It was like watching one of those touching movies about star-crossed lovers. Those movies that were so beautiful that it could even make a grown man cry.

They exchanged a long stare at each other, their eyes communicating with each other. I truly felt like I was in a fairy tale watching these two. He turned back to the piano to finish the song, and when it was over I couldn't help but gush about how incredible and touching the song was.

--------------------------------

After talking some more about the piano, we walked into the living room to find Alice, Jasper and Renesmee sitting and having a conversation. "Hey guys," I said, trying to be friendly. The only one in the room that I hadn't had decent and friendly conversations with yet was Jasper. I sat down next to Renesmee, who looked like herself today; happy and warm hearted.

"Are you feeling better?" she asked me as soon as I sat down. "Yeah, I feel great, actually," I told her as I realized it. She smiled, and her beauty seemed to glow. "That's great! We don't want what happened last night to happen again…" she said, her happy mood seeming to drift off to fear. "I don't think it will. Well, at least I don't feel like I will."

Alice's focus seemed to be distant, and her expression was pained and frustrated. "What's wrong, Alice?" I asked. Surprised to hear me, she turned to me. "Oh, it's nothing; sorry." I wasn't convinced, but I didn't bother her about it.

"That was very brave of you last night to tell Demetri to um," Jasper began awkwardly, searching for the right words. "Take off my clothes so I was only in my underwear?" I supplied for him. He nodded, "Yeah, that. Demetri was worried about it; he didn't feel like it was right."

I shrugged, "my living was more important to me than my modesty." He smiled, "that was very wise of you." I smiled back, happy to be making a good impression on him and that I made the right choice. Alice and Edward's attention focused on something outside suddenly. "They're going to be back soon," they said at the same time. A few seconds later, a car pulled into the long tree surrounded driveway that we could see through the window.

"How did you know that?" I asked them. They exchanged glances, and then Edward answered. "We, um, got text messages." I didn't believe them, but I didn't say anything. I never saw either of them take out cell phones. I looked out the window to see Demetri, Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie and Emmett getting out of the car. The sun was going down by now, and it looked like it was the evening now.

"What time is it?" I asked, looking back at the family in the living room with my arms crossed. I hadn't realized how late it was getting. Jasper looked at his watch before answering. "It's 6pm." I nodded turning my head back towards the window while saying, "Thanks." Demetri and his family weren't outside anymore, and soon there was some commotion going on in the room.

I turned to the entrance of the room to find Demetri standing in the doorway looking at me. My expression immediately turned to a smile as I walked towards him. "Hi, long time no see." I said jokingly and opening my arms for a hug. He hugged back, and then pulled away to look at me with a smile on his face.

"How are you feeling now, Adalia?" Carlisle asked me, glad to see that I was up and doing this rather than bed ridden. "I'm feeling great," I told him. He smiled, satisfied and surprised by my progress. "That's wonderful," he told me. "I think that you may be well enough to go back home tonight, actually. I'll call your father and tell him that he can pick you up later tonight."

Demetri put his arms around me and hugged me again, clearly glad that I was doing better. Esme looked at the time, "oh my!" she began, "I didn't realize it was so late. Are you hungry, Adalia?" I hadn't thought about it before, but my stomach had a hunger pain that rumbled in my stomach. "Yeah," I told her. "What do you have?"

"We have plenty, what kinds of things do you like?" she asked. "I'm really not that picky, anything would do." Demetri looked down at me, "I could make you some macaroni and cheese, if that would satisfy you?" I nodded with a grin, completely satisfied with the idea. I've always adored macaroni and cheese.

Demetri grinned back and led me to the kitchen. I sat down at a tall chair beside their island table while he began digging out the necessary cooking supplies. He began boiling the water when he looked up at me, his warm, dark golden eyes seeming to see straight inside of me.

"You know, I used to make macaroni and cheese for my mom, only it wasn't this modern kind." He told me, shaking the Kraft Mac and Cheese box to demonstrate. "It was the baked kind that you make from scratch and put into the oven. I would make her some because she loved it, and it always seemed to make her feel better. She always said that it could heal the soul," he said, rolling his eyes lovingly. "It never made much sense to me, but I grew up with it.

I rested my head on my propped up and balled hand, watching him and his adorable and loving explanation of how sweet he was to his mother. "That's so sweet, seems like you two got along well." I smiled. He smiled back, his mind reminiscent. "She was my best friend." I smiled, and then laughed at myself for what I had just thought about. ".. What?" he asked, his lips turning up into a shy, sweet smile. I attempted to control my giggling with not much success. "Oh, I, uh… sorry. All this talk about loved ones and Mac n' cheese made me think of something real cheesy – no pun intended." He smiled, "And what cheesy thought was that?" he asked, leaning in towards me as the water rumbled at a low boil.

I blushed, "The saying, 'you are the cheese to my macaroni.'" I answered, looking down and then back up at him through my long eye lashes to see if he thought I was biggest dork ever. Instead, he erupted into laughter, and it was contagious because I was soon giggling with him. After a few moments of laughter, we calmed down. Short of breath, I became serious again. "So… um, what was the ending to that story? What happened to your mom?" I asked. I knew this was probably bordering on being too nosey, and possibly rude, but I didn't think before I asked, which I later regretted.

Every shred of happiness he was just showing diminished, as his expression suddenly became grim and pained. After a moment of dark silence and hesitation, he answered. "She died." I could imagine that my expression became saddened, surprised, worried, and yet understanding at the same time. "Oh my gosh, Demetri. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to –"I began apologizing but Demetri interrupted me. "No, it's fine. Don't worry about it; it was a very long time ago."

I looked down at my lap and fidgeted, trying to control my watering eyes, before I finally looked up at him. "My mom died a long time ago too." This caught his attention, and he looked up to meet my eyes. His eyes had so much emotion in them. First, he was sad about whatever had happened to his mom, that was a given. If someone, especially Demetri, lost a person he cared so much about, it would be painful to bring it up. But now his eyes were filled with a sweet sadness and understanding. He leaned over and cupped my cheek in his hand gently. "Oh, Adalia, I'm so sorry."

I shook my head, but not hard enough that it was out of his hand. "It's fine. I guess we have that in common…" I told him softly. Our eyes met for what felt like ages, as we let our eyes do the talking. Our eyes shared years of pain with each other, and suddenly it felt like Demetri and I really understood each other. I made a note to myself, that I finally made my decision, I would tell Demetri my story, and ask him about his. I decided for telling him tomorrow.

Suddenly, the sound of the boiling water bubbling and popping over the surface made me jump, and Demetri reluctantly flew away from me to calm the hot water. I laughed breathlessly despite myself as he struggled to get the temperature of it down frantically, so that the bubbles would disappear. In the midst of his struggles, Demetri looked up at me through his eye lashes and laughed a little with me.

In the middle of our laughing, the sound of someone trudging in came from the foyer. Soon, Jacob made his grand entrance into the room, looking like he had just spent a day in the rain. His boots were covered in fresh, wet mud, and his hair and clothes were completely drenched in water. Demetri looked up at him while stirring the macaroni. "What happened to you?" he asked, clearly amused by how unkempt and exasperated he was.

"It's not sunny outside anymore," he said flatly. He stared at Demetri in a comically annoyed way, until he finally realized I was sitting there struggling not to giggle. His expression immediately changed, and his tone was friendly and warm. "Oh, hey." He told me, walking over to me with something in his arms that I hadn't realized was there before. He pulled out a chair and sat next to me.

"Demetri here insisted that I retrieve your school work that you missed for today," he said while handing me my notebooks. I looked at Demetri and him, and was about to speak when I was interrupted by someone else making their grand entrance. "Just like a Golden Retriever, Jacob. Good boy!" said Emmett, clapping his hands like he was congratulating a puppy for doing a cool trick jokingly. I turned around to find Emmett walking into the kitchen with Rosalie following close behind. Emmett had his regularly amused, cocky and goof-ball expression on. Narrowing his eyes at Emmett, Jacob gave his sarcastic remark. "Oh, very funny, blo –"he began, but was interrupted by Edwards's quick entrance that stopped him. Edward rolled his eyes, but his eyes rang warning bells to Jacob. "I guess some things never change."

Edward's statement was followed just as quickly as he came in by a disgusted shriek. "Ugh!" Rosalie scowled at Jacob. "Who let the dog in?" She turned to Edward. "He got mud all over the floor." Jacob rolled his eyes dramatically at her outburst, and lifted his arms up in surrender. "Simmer down, psycho; I'll clean it up." Rosalie turned to glare at him hatefully. "Bite me," she said. Jacob retorted with a cocky smile. "You'd think that would be the other way around –"he began, but Edward immediately scolded them. "Enough!" he yelled, looking between the two of them like he was breaking up a fight between Grade School students. He calmed down, and Jacob and Rosalie put their guard down guiltily, struggling to swallow their individual pride. "We have company," he told them, looking to me. Under his breath he continued, "You would think that you two were children, what with the way you act."

--------------------------------

After I ate my Mac n' cheese, Demetri smiled up at me. "I have something to show you."

"What is it?" I asked. He laughed, "well, if I told you then it wouldn't be a surprise now, would it?" I smiled mischievously. "Oh, I see. You got me a present?" I joked happily. He attempted to stifle a laugh, "Possibly, but you're going to have to come up to the room to see for yourself." I agreed and followed him up to a room that he mentioned was his.

Outside the window, there was the most beautiful view I had ever seen of this small little town. There was a nice balcony outside the window that stood right in front of the gorgeous landscape. There was a clear view of Mount Rainier and the sunset lowering behind it beyond the river, just like a wonderful painting. The warm and cool colors blended together, casting shadows over the tip of the mountain. "Oh my gosh, Demetri. This is so beautiful..." I said as I turned back around to Demetri. This time he was smiling at me, a bouquet of red and white roses in his hands. I forgot everything I was going to say as I saw him standing there, offering me roses.

I had to stop myself from crying stupidly and happily. No boy had ever given me roses before, and it was one of those incredibly romantic things to do for someone. _Romantic_…

* * *

I hope that you liked this chapter! I know that I liked writing it. =]

Please, please review. I'd love you forever.

Just a few things about the songs included in this chapter. First, the song in the beginning by A Fine Frenzy doesn't fit the story perfectly. It's mainly the references to Spanish lullabies, a sweet sadness in his eyes, never wanting to see him unhappy -- things such as that. The song is amazing and gorgeous though, so I wanted to include it.

Also, the song that Adalia sings is called You Are The Moon, by The Hush Sound. I **_do not own _**this song, and I give full credit to them for anything related to that song. It's a beautiful song, and I strongly encourage that you look it up. I loved the concept of the song, and I thought it fit Demetri very well and how Adalia sees him.

The Hush Sound is an amazing band. I met them last year in town, and they were incredibly nice and just as good live as on their cd. They played an acoustic show, and acoustic definitely worked for them. Greta's voice is amazing, as is Bob's. All of them are incredibly talented. (Bob even brought his Mandolin and played it! lol)


	14. Birthday

**Together With the Sun Down: by Stephen Jerzak**

I don't even know  
I've never felt this way before  
but with someone like you, it makes sense.  
And I don't want to go,  
I'll stay with you forever just as long  
as you love me too  
just as long as you love me too.

It's the way that you talk  
and the way that you smile  
and the way that you love black and white.  
Baby it's the way that you hold my hand in the car  
and the way that we lie in the sand,

It's not that hard to see  
That a single day without you could  
make me go crazy.  
It takes my breath away  
it gives me butterflies,  
when you hold me when you sleep.  
When you hold me in your sleep.  
I never want to leave.

It's the way that you talk  
and the way that you smile  
and the way that you love black and white.  
Baby it's the way that you hold my hand in the car  
and the way that we lie in the sand  
and we watched the sun go down.

woaaah...

It's the way that you talk  
and the way that you smile  
and the way that you love black and white.  
Baby it's the way that you hold my hand in the car  
and the way that we lie in the sand,  
and we watched the sun go down.

* * *

I stood there in awe and shock like a moron, as Demetri held out his hands that held the bouquet of roses. He looked so adorably handsome, and that combined with the fact that he was offering me roses, made me forget how to breathe. With a sweet smile, he handed them to me. "This is your get well present," he said as I realized that I should probably accept them instead of looking like I had gone stupid.

Slowly, I grabbed them and held them, turning it around as I stared. "Oh, Demetri..." I began, at a loss of words. I struggled to think of something to say, but Demetri moved closer and put his fingers gently over my lips to shush me. "Shh," we whispered his face close to mine so that I could hear. He was so close to me now that the way he looked at me was intimate and so wonderful that I felt the infamous butterflies make its reappearance. He took my hand in his, and spoke quietly, his voice filled with affection. "Come with me," he told me, jerking his head out to the balcony. I nodded, "Okay," I managed to get out, truly speechless.

With my hand in his, he led me out to the balcony and sat down with me on a cream colored Futon. I looked at him, trying to read him. His face was peaceful, but I couldn't quite see what he was feeling. After a while of staring off into the now almost completely setting sun, he looked at me. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

I nodded, staring at him. After a long pause that felt like it went on forever, he leaned over to me. Looking into my eyes and pushing a piece of my hair behind my ears tenderly, he finally spoke. "It's beautiful like you." With those simple words, I felt my heartbeat stutter, but I couldn't look away from his thoughtful gaze that seemed to see inside me and draw me closer. I felt my cheeks getting hot, and Demetri smiled at me as he brushed them with the back of his fingers. "It's so adorable when you do that."

As if I felt enough weirdness from the loving things he was saying, I shivered as he touched me. It was like electricity. I was too shocked and speechless though, so I just kept staring at him like an utter moron. He searched my face for something, and something seemed to register with him. Unexpectedly, he pulled away from me, breaking the electricity of his touch. "I apologize, I shouldn't have done that."

Regaining my ability to speak, I stuttered. "What? What do you mean? Why…?" I was entirely disappointed and confused, and Demetri looked at me with an equally confused expression. "I…" he started, searching for something to say. "Do you feel the same way for me that I feel for you?" I stared at him, and finally arched an eyebrow. "I guess that depends on how you feel for me." He suddenly got nervous, unsure of how to answer. "Just tell me the truth, Demetri. I promise that either way, I won't stop liking you." I tried to smile, hoping that his answer would be what I felt for him deep inside. After a moment of internal dilemma, he looked into my eyes with a sudden seriousness and passion that made me melt. "I've loved you since the day we met," he stated, his gaze reaching deep inside of me.

All I could do was stare at him, my eyes wide with shock, trying to let the information sink in. How could he love me, really? And especially for this long, for that matter? He was such a wonderful person, and completely and utterly handsome. I was just me: Adalia; nobody special. "How?" I finally asked, feeling breathless. The sun was gone now, a sliver of light barely peeking over the mountains. In the blue of the sky, the moon began to show through, along with some stars. He looked at me as if I were missing something, like he saw me as something so wonderful, and just realized that I thought very little of myself. "How?" he repeated sarcastically, looking away. Then he looked back at me, his eyes filled with sadness and admiration. "You are incredible, Adalia. Don't you forget that." I looked down at my hands, and then looked back up to him. "I guess that I feel the same way for you as you do for me, then. " I admitted.

He looked up at me, his eyes smiling with a hint of surprise. "Seriously?" he asked me, shocked. I sighed, "Demetri, I think we both might have the same problem with our self esteem." He frowned at me. He was silent for a while, as we just stared off into the night. The sun set was over, and now the crescent moon was barely lighting the sky. The stars were also shining; standing out against the dark majestic beauty of the sky. We sat there, just watching in complete silence at the night. It was truly a beautiful thing. Slowly, Demetri put his arm around me, pulling me closer to him. I slowly rested myself against him laying my head on his shoulder, comfortable just being with him. Quietly, I spoke, breaking the calming silence of the night. "You remind me of the moon."

He looked up at me, the calm feeling broken. Confused, he asked, "What do you mean?" I blushed and looked into his eyes, trying to find a way I could possibly explain my metaphor for him. "I…" I began awkwardly. "It's hard to explain. I actually made a song about it earlier on the piano while you were gone. I didn't know he was there, but Edward heard it," I rambled. "You wrote a song about me?" Demetri asked, shocked.

I felt my cheeks burn brighter, "Yeah, I did. I guess that I had you on my mind, and I found the piano so I…" I tapped my fingers nervously, "played something." He looked saddened yet amused at the same time. "I just don't see how you think I deserve you, let alone a song that is about me." I sighed, "This is exactly what I made the song about, in the first place." Demetri's expression was questioning.

I looked down at my lap as I fiddled with my fingers. "Ever since I met you, you've seen yourself as something less than wonderful." Demetri snorted, and I looked back up at him, meeting his gaze. "You don't see the beauty or wonderfulness that I see in you every day. Sometimes, you look so sad that it breaks my heart, and I want to know why. I want to help you. It's like the moon," I said, gesturing towards it sitting in the night sky.

"When you're not hiding behind your demons, or the darkness that surrounds your life like the night surrounds the moon, you light up my life. You light up my life and make me happy, like the moon lights up the darkness of the night. Sometimes, there are glimpses of when the darkness completely conceals your light, just like a new moon. But the pain and sadness in your eyes is so…" I began, searching for a word to describe how much it hurt me. "It hurts me, to see you hurting. It's like something awful happened to you, and you've been in pain ever since." I looked at him, willing him to open up to me with my eyes, "I want to help; I want to make you happy. I love you too much to see you that way." I threw my gaze up into the air in a sudden burst of energy and realization, "God, Demetri, you don't even know how much I really love you."

It felt good to finally admit all of that aloud, and a few seconds later I turned to Demetri to see what his reaction was. Demetri looked taken aback and saddened as he took in my long speech to him. I watched him as he stared at me like I was the most incredible thing in the world. Finally, he cleared his throat and spoke, sadness written all over his face in the glow of the night. "I'm sorry to have caused you pain." He said with the pain in his voice apparent. He lifted his free hand to caress my cheek. "But, my love," he told me, looking deep into my eyes. "You already make me happier than I've been in a long time. You succeed in that without even trying."

I cuddled myself next to him more, my insides melting from how he called me 'love'. "But there's more than just what I can fix without trying." He didn't reply, and I took that as a confirmation. After a long moment of silence, he spoke with a gentle voice. "Adalia, I am not the only one with a painful past. I have a feeling that you, too, have had your fair share of demons to fight with." He looked at me, with a knowing look in his eye. "That may be taken literally." I felt my skin crawl and I shivered, thinking of the man in the woods. He was definitely something like a demon. I didn't reply, and the look in his face told me he, too, took that as a confirmation.

Demetri stroked my hair, twining it through his fingers as we sat close together. "Adalia," he began, "I really do love you, and you should know that. Nothing will change that." I felt the butterflies. It was still a mystery to me how he could possibly feel that way about me. "I love you, too, Demetri." We gazed into each other's eyes, and everything around him seemed to blur, as he was all I could see. I really did love him and I knew it. Somehow, he loved me too. He twisted his body towards me, as he lovingly played with my hair and caressed the side of my face, looking into my eyes. I felt my cheeks burn more, and I looked down embarrassed by my reoccurring awkwardness. Why couldn't I just be calm and controlled, poise and graceful – and then all of my thoughts quickly broke off.

I felt a shock when he lifted my chin quickly and our lips met gently and firmly. It was like an explosion of fireworks between us. He kissed me once and then backed away, much to my dismay, and looked into my eyes. "I've always wanted to do that," he said. We stared at each other, the desire building and our lips soon met again. I had never felt anything so powerful before. His lips moved against mine passionately, and I moved mine in time with his.

The minty smell of his lips and mouth seized control of me, and my whole world melted into him. There was nothing in the world except him; him and me. It was just the two of us in a world of passion crashing all around us. Demetri's hands found my waist and my cheek, as our breathing became ragged. My body shuddered from his touch, and my heart was racing faster and faster. The kisses became urgent, as we pressed against each other, desire taking over our bodies, my breath quickly dissipating. I was so out of breath that I had to pull back. Demetri was surprised, as he, too, had to take a breather. I was more out of breath than I expected, so I was gasping for air as Demetri's and my passion cooled off and the rest of the world came back into focus. I didn't want to see the rest of the world though, I just wanted Demetri.

He looked at me, a deep happiness filling his eyes. I suddenly felt exhausted for some reason; it must have caught up with me. With heavy eyes, I looked down at my lap shyly; as I was sure my cheeks were getting red. Demetri found my lips again, although this time he wasn't kissing them, he was speaking into them. "I love you, Adalia." He whispered against my lips, tickling them seductively. I shivered as I looked back at him, my eyes now tired and heavy. "I love ya, too," I whispered back happily but tiredly. He pulled back, concern all over his face. "You're tired." He told me. I opened my eyes wider, "What? Oh no, I just." The truth was, I just wanted to be with him awake for as long as possible. I gave up. He smiled, "Rest tonight, love. We will be together again tomorrow. We will be together always." I liked the sound of that, and I couldn't get over his cute names for me. I smirked, "That's a nice idea. And fine, I suppose I'll go to sleep, lover boy."

He laughed at my nickname for him. He calls me 'love'; I'll call him 'lover boy'. I smiled at him, and then realized that this couch wasn't exactly conducive to sleeping well, as we were sitting up. He must have caught on to that, because he got up. "Hold on, I'll fix it." He said, before messing with the futon, making it fold back into a more bed like structure. He found his place beside me again, and I cuddled up next to him like we had last night. In his arms underneath the night sky, and hopped up on endorphins from our passionate kiss, I laid for a while. Even though Demetri wanted me to go to sleep, he helped me connect the stars, making shapes out of them.

He took my hand, and pointed out stars for me, his head pressed against mine. "Do you see that shape?" he asked, pointing way to our left, tracing the shape with my finger. I squinted my eyes to see, "Yeah, I see them." I told him after I noticed. "That's the Heart Nebula." He told me. I gasped as I realized that it looked like a heart, "That's amazing." I said. It was a formation of beautiful stars that made the shape of a heart in space. He was still holding my hand, and he lowered it to his lips as he pecked a quick kiss on the top of my hand. He looked to me, looking like the prince of a fairytale after kissing his lady's hand. "Sleep well, Adalia. It really is time for you to rest now." I sighed, "Okay." I got comfortable again, but wanted to ask something before I finally fell asleep.

"Demetri?" I asked quietly. "Yes?" he replied.

"Will you ever tell me your story? The reason why you are always hurting?" I asked. He paused, and I didn't think he would answer when he finally spoke. "I will, Adalia. I will tell you everything tomorrow." I smiled, "Thanks." I said, before I finally closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep in Demetri's arms.

----------------------------

I woke up with a start later that night, in my own room, which was strange to be in now, although I should have been so used to it. I felt like I had hit my head as I looked around. "How did I get here?" I asked to myself out loud. "Your dad came by and picked you up after you fell asleep." I jumped and turned towards the sudden voice. Demetri was outside the window, propping himself up as he looked at me. I caught my breath, my heart beating a million miles per hour. "Holy crap, Demetri! You scared the crap out of me."

"I get that a lot." he told me, as he jumped through my window, gracefully landing on the other side. Since my room was on the first floor, it didn't take much to jump through the window into my room. "I wanted to tell you something before the morning," he told me, walking over to my bed and sitting beside me.

"What is it?" I asked. Grinning at me, he said, "Tomorrow is your birthday right?" I nodded. "Well, Alice wanted to throw you a party, and I thought that would be a perfect time to show you a surprise."

I grinned, "You had a surprise for me today, remember?" I asked. "Hey, speaking of, where did those flowers go?" He grinned back and tilted his head over to my dresser, where an elegant vase of roses sat. "Esme is to thank for that one." I smiled thoughtfully. "Tell her I told her thank you."

He nodded and then started a new topic. "If you wanted, I could tell you everything about my past tomorrow; from the beginning. I trust you, and I want you to trust me."

I nodded, "I do trust you, Demetri." I began, before I realized how hypocritical I was being. "I should tell you about my past then, too. It wouldn't be right if I didn't" He smiled, "Of course. Thank you for trusting me, even though you shouldn't." I just frowned and shook my head.

His expression turned pained and grim, "You should know, though, that my story isn't a happy one. It won't exactly lift your birthday spirits."

I nodded, "I figured as much, but that doesn't matter. I'll be happy to know. You should know that mine isn't all rainbows and sunshine, either." He smiled, "we are much alike."

I smiled back, happy that I might have found someone who I could relate to. He leaned over, and left a small kiss tenderly on my cheek, and then turned away. "I'll see you tomorrow, then. Make sure you come by later." I nodded, "I'll come after I have dinner with my dad." He nodded in agreement, and began making his way back through the window.

"Wait," I told him as he turned back to see what I was going to say. "Are we dating?" I asked. His lips turned up into a smile, "I'd absolutely love that, but I've learned it's up to the lady. Do you want to be my girlfriend?" he asked, being a perfect gentleman. I didn't hesitate or calm my enthusiastic response. "Yes!" I said quickly, "Of course." He grinned at me, and said "I like the sound of that."

"Wait, can you stay here with me?" I asked, feeling utterly attached to him. He frowned, "I'd love to stay with you, too, but I can't. Alice begged me to help her with setting up your party at our place."

I rolled my eyes, but let him go on. "Good night, my dearest Adalia. See you soon."

"Good night to you too, fine sir." I told him. He grinned, and then he was gone from my sight. I soon fell asleep with a feeling of pure bliss.

---------------------------

"Hey dad," I greeted him the next morning, completely happy with my life at the moment. Today would be a good day. I had Demetri, I had friends who were throwing me a party, and it was my birthday. It was going to be a wonderful birthday, and much more eventful than my last ones. I had the feeling it would be.

"Good morning." He said from behind his newspaper. He moved it out of the way to peer over it at me. "And happy birthday, I'm glad to see that you're not sick in bed anymore. You have no idea how worried I was."

I nodded, "yeah, I'm glad that I'm better now too." I grabbed the orange juice out of the fridge, along with the necessary supplies for a bowl of cereal. He looked at me, "so what do you want to do today?" He asked.

"I was thinking about going to dinner with you, and then Alice wanted to throw a party for me at the Cullen's place." He smiled almost sadly at me. "I guess it's about time that I grew accustomed to you growing up and having friends and places to be."

I stared at him and frowned. "I love you dad, don't worry about me growing up so soon though. I still need you as long as possible." He laughed, and then smiled, "I got you a present, Adalia." I looked at him, surprised that I hadn't even thought of gifts. "Oh, thanks dad. I seriously didn't even think about getting gifts."

With a huge smile, he reached down under the table and picked up a wrapped gift that he hid. The box was rectangular, with cute purple wrapping paper. He handed it to me, and it felt pretty heavy. "Open it," he said excitedly. I laughed at him as I tore open the wrapping paper, revealing a box. When I realized what the gift was, I gasped and looked at my dad in shock.

"You seriously bought me a lap top?" I asked. Lap tops were far more expensive than I thought my dad would spend. He was a lawyer, but in this little town, there wasn't always much business. Everyone got along well for the most part and there were rarely any illegal disturbances or people suing each other for the most ridiculous things in the world. The point was: we were a middle class family. A lap top was a little extravagant.

"It's not any lap top; it's a Mac book." He told me. I gaped at the lap top, and then turned to my dad in an excited and thankful rush. "Thank you so much, dad!" I threw myself into his arms for a hug. Mac's are the best for digital art and photography, and he knew that I was into that. I was probably going to do something in the art and communications field as an adult, so either way, a lap top would have been a necessity.

I backed away as he began explaining his gift choice. "You're going to be going to college after you graduate next year, and I thought it would be best if you had a lap top to bring with you. I know you're not graduating yet, but now you can learn how to use it ahead of time."

I smiled at him, "thanks, dad. I really love it."

--------------------

I was going back to my room, when the door bell rang. My dad and I hadn't been expecting anyone, so we both looked toward the door, wondering who could be there. My dad went to open the door, and pretty soon Alice was bursting in with bags of things folded over her arms. "I came to dress you appropriately for the party," she said, as she invited herself in. I had to stifle a laugh at her, and especially my dad who was staring at her like she was crazy and he had no clue who she was.

I cleared my throat, trying to avoid laughing, as I introduced her. "Dad, this is Alice Cullen. Alice, this is my dad." Recognition for the name crossed his face, "Oh, it's nice to meet you Alice. I've heard a lot about you." She smiled at him, "it's nice to meet you too. Are you coming to the party?" He nodded, a surprised and happy sparkle in his eye as he accepted the invitation, and soon Alice and I were in my room.

"I got you some things to wear for your party," she told me, taking out the things she was carrying. "You didn't have to," I told her while she pulled a dress out of its bag. It was a deep blueberry colored, light and airy knit dress with a v-neck and pleated along the skirt, giving it a baby doll silhouette look. "I wanted to," she replied as she turned the dress over, revealing the lacy racer back that was absolutely beautiful.

"That's so pretty," I said, staring at the dress. She smiled up at me while taking more things out of another bag. "It'll look even prettier on you." I smiled, "thanks."

"Don't mention it." Next she pulled out tights with an elegant and intricate floral design of roses on them in the color black. They were equally pretty. After that, she pulled out a black jacket and a black and turquoise colored rose headband. It looked like just about one of the most adorable outfits ever. "You didn't have to buy all of that for me," I told her, worried about the price tag.

She laughed, "It's your birthday. And it's really no big deal." I was about to say something, but she shoved the clothes at me, "Try it on, I want to see how it looks on you before I do your makeup."

"My makeup?" I repeated questioningly. She smiled mischievously in response, "I love fashion and girly things – so sue me." I rolled my eyes and took the clothes to try them on. Once I was done, Alice took one look at me and grinned. "That looks so amazing on you!" she said. I smiled, and as I was about to look in the mirror to see what all the commotion was about when she grabbed my hand and vintage styled makeup bag, pulling me out the door. "Where's your bathroom? We have to do your makeup." I pointed in the direction of the nearest bathroom as she brought me inside.

-----------------------

After she was done, I went to my room to discover what was accomplished. Alice looked completely satisfied and happy with herself, and when I saw my reflection I knew why. My makeup wasn't what did it; the makeup was natural with eyeliner and then a little turquoise colored eye shadow that matched my eyes, making them stand out.

The dress was absolutely adorable, and I was surprised to see that it actually looked flattering on me. The deep and vibrant blueberry color made my creamy pale skin have a natural and flawless glow that I didn't recognize as my own skin. When I looked in the mirror, I also barely recognized my hair that now had the black and turquoise rose headband in it, standing out against my rose red hair. It looked generously longer than the last time I had glanced at it yesterday. I had to do a double take to even realize that it was my own hair. Well that's completely odd.

The way the dress fit my body, it made me look slender and curvy, while being delicate and small at the same time. The tights were also flattering, making my legs look lean and my skin glow. The locket that I wore everyday also looked wonderful with it, tying all the colors and the look together elegantly. "You look gorgeous," said Alice as she looked at the reflection in the mirror too from my bed.

---------------

Soon after, Alice left so that my dad and I could get ready to go to my favorite Mexican restaurant. We had good, father and daughter alone time that we hadn't really gotten recently. It was nice, being able to just have carefree conversations with him. We could have time together, just him as my dad, and me as his daughter. When we were finished with a delicious Mexican meal, we left to make our way to the Cullen's for the party. I was extremely excited, butterflies filling my stomach for seeing Demetri, my boyfriend, again, as well as with all of the hills and bumps in the road that made me feel like a kid again. I still couldn't believe Demetri was my boyfriend now; it was just too amazing to be the truth.

"You look beautiful," my dad said, interrupting my thoughts of Demetri and butterflies as I stared out at the road, driving the car. I turned to look at him when I stopped shortly at a stop sign, and he had a thoughtful smile that was filled with that fatherly sadness to see their little girl growing up. I smiled back, "this is all the work of Alice. She got me all dressed up like I was a life-size Barbie doll." I laughed. Chuckling with me, I saw his focus and thoughts wander off. He turned to look at me, his expression apologetic. "I'm sorry about judging Demetri so quickly. I realized that my earlier prejudices' for him were not deserved. I haven't met the Cullen family yet, but I do trust them. They've taken good care of you while I was too busy at work to do something myself." His expression turned from grateful to sad, and it made me sad too just to look at him. "Dad, its fine. You're a single father, it's expected. And I don't have any resentment for it." I smiled at him, trying to recover from the shock of hearing that he felt that way.

He sighed guiltily and I frowned as I went on driving towards the Cullen's house. At another stop sign, I quickly took out my ipod and got it to play on the car stereo. It was too quite in the car and listening to music was my favorite part of driving. I played a techno song, and I could hear my dad snort in disproval next to me. I gave him a knowing look. "Driver picks the music; shot gun shuts his pie hole. Besides, I do believe it's my birthday." My dad rolled his eyes, and the joking atmosphere was quickly cut off as a car behind us swerved loudly and began tailing dangerously close to us. "What the—"I began; my heartbeat picking up as I tried to look in the rearview mirror to see who was behind us.

"Drive faster! Try to lose him!" my dad interrupted me with a panicked and powerful voice that I had rarely heard from him. Confused, I looked back up into the rearview mirror to see who was tailing us so close that I thought they'd accelerate and ram into the back of the car. It was getting dark, so I could barely see the shadowed figure in the sports car's driver seat, but when a light flashed over his face I felt my heart beat stop. The person driving behind us had dark hair, and his red eyes glinted dangerously in the reflection of the street lights.

I felt a little stab of pain and my stomach knotted as I immediately recognized the man as the last person I wanted to see in a million years – the man who destroyed my family so many years ago. I felt myself begin to panic as the knots in my stomach tightened. My grip on the steering wheel tightened with it, and I felt the urge to break down in tears. I couldn't cry though, I had to stay strong, and I was way too panicked and fear stricken to breathe, let alone scream or cry or anything else I wanted to do.

I pushed my foot down on the gas pedal, trying to focus all of my intense fears and pain into something productive. I hadn't even realized that it was the middle of a storm right now, one that hadn't been here earlier or was predicted on the news. It poured rain everywhere, the thunder and wind just making me more and more tense. We speeded down the road, while the man still followed close behind us. I felt myself swallow back a cry of the hopelessness that had been building up, when the car behind us slowed down, leaving us to drive away. I waited until the car was no longer visible anymore to finally breath after not realizing I was holding it. I looked to my dad, who still looked like he was panicking.

"Adalia, he's only playing a game with us. He's not done following us; he's just playing a sick game to make it more interesting." I felt the knot in my stomach tighten even more, and I began to feel sick. "Stop, you need to stop," he told me in the same powerful voice he had used before, periodically looking back behind us expecting to see the man pop up at any given moment. I looked up to him like he was crazy. "Stop!?" I exclaimed, taking out all of my fears on him. "Why should we stop, he's just going to be able to find us easier."

He met my eyes steadily, "He's just giving us a head start. However far away we get, it won't make any difference." He looked around; struggling with the next words he was going to say. "We need to split up. You need to run away while I lead him farther away from you."

"What!?" I exploded, shocked by what he suggested we do. "He's just going to find you and hurt you…" I was saying, although my mouth was on auto pilot as my mind was in a complete daze. My dad stopped me, and looked at me in complete seriousness. "He wants you, Adalia, not me. If he found me, he wouldn't hurt me because he only wants to find you. I'm no use to him, except for finding you."

I just stared at him, confused by how he knew so much. "I don't have time to explain, but if he follows me it'll buy you some time. Please, just go. Go west towards the Cullen's through the forest. I trust them, and I think that if anyone could help you it would be them. But please go, Adalia, go fast." I stared at him, feeling the tears in my eyes spill over. My dad looked completely serious about this, his eyes pleading. "Dad..." I started, not knowing what I wanted to say at all. I didn't want to leave him.

Our eyes met. "Run, Adalia, and remember this: You're locket is the key to learning what all this is about, and who you are. Be careful, Adalia." He told me. I gripped the locket into my hands tightly, not understanding what he meant. Reluctantly and without looking away from him, I backed out of the car. My dad looked back behind him, as a car began speeding down the street in the distance. He looked at me impatiently, "I love you Adalia. Always remember that." All I could do was nod and whisper "I love you" back to him, but I could barely find my voice.

Before I could even shut the door, he hopped into the driver seat and drove off, leaving me between the chaos of the gloomy road and the tree filled forest in the middle of a storm.

* * *

I hope you like this chapter! =]

Like Adalia, it is also **my 17th Birthday** today. For my birthday, I would absolutely love if you all were to leave me some reviews! That's all I ask from you for my birthday. Pretty please? =]

I love you all! And there will definitely be some questions that I'll answer in the next chapter!

Thanks for reading.

- Jenna


	15. Determination

Don't worry about it.  
This is the way it's meant to be. This is the way it had to be.  
Live it up before you lose this one.  
Take a chance let all your dreams become a masterpiece of reality.

I'd fight a thousand lions, I'd ride the devil's fire,  
Just to be with you, just to be with you.

Don't worry about it.  
This is the way it's meant to be. This is the way it had to be.  
Fight the feelings that aren't worth your time.  
Take a chance, Leave all of them behind.  
I'll show you what their eyes couldn't see.

I'd fight a thousand lions; I'd ride the devil's fire,

Just to be with you, just to be with you.  
I'd walk a thousand miles; I'd give you anything,  
Just to be with you, just to be with you.

Find, the trust that you need to believe in me. It's always so complicated.  
Now is the time to contemplate what you need in your life to make it just fake it.  
And I will always be by your side to guide you, and help you.  
Just tell me what's in store;  
I'll try to fill this hole.

* * *

I was in the middle of a raging storm, on the side of the road struggling against all of my deepest fears. I didn't even have time to think about what I was doing, because the speeding car that followed behind my father and I was getting closer and closer, and I couldn't be seen. I stumbled down the edge of the road that fell deeper into the trees after a little ways, getting mud all over me and trying not to get stuck in the quicksand like substance that led all the way down.

I felt like screaming, stopping and crying, but I gritted my teeth against the cold air that surrounded me and the cool mud and rain that was beginning to cover me from head to toe. The cold air and the harsh winds made me feel like I was being stabbed all over by a million, tiny and cold knives. My feet sunk into the rain soaked ground with every step I took, and it took effort and muscles I hadn't used in a long time to pull them out each time. I moved quickly, stumbling over myself, and nearly falling, my ankles taking some of the pain, as I ripped myself out of the ground.

I bit down on my lip, as I stepped into the ground, my feet stumbling and losing its balance. I inhaled deeply, shocked and scared, when I started to fall. I fell down the wrong way for my ankle, and tumbled down the hill as my foot was ripped out of the ground in an unnatural way. It was then that I felt a sharp, piercing pain in my ankle, followed by a sickening crack. I stifled a scream, as I fell to the wet and soggy earth, gasping from the new pain in my ankle.

Automatically, I reached for my right ankle when I stopped tumbling down the hill and tried to move it. There was so much pain, but I could still manage to barely move my foot, which meant that it wasn't broken. I felt tears wash down my face, as I struggled to keep going, so that the man wouldn't see me when he drove by. He was so close now, which meant that I had to get moving.

Gritting my teeth to keep from screaming, I managed, with a huge amount of painful effort, to lift myself up. I tried sprinting to the trees that were so close to me now, but my wounded ankle wouldn't allow it. I let out an unexpected and short cry of pain as I tried to run. I felt like I was in some movie, only instead of feeling adventurous, I was scared out of my mind and the clock was ticking, making the knots and fear in my stomach only heighten.

I couldn't hop; there was too much mud and too little time to attempt that. I had to endure the pain and run as fast as I could to the trees that were so close, yet so far. And so I ran, as the pain and the cold were causing me to temporarily hold my breath as I sank into the mud over and over until I finally reached the trees.

Once I got there, I was just in time to jump behind the trees as the speeding car reached the point where I was at. The man wasn't stupid, though, and that was clear. He slowed down, and I could see through the cloudiness of my vision and the storm that he was looking straight at me, his lips turning up into a sinister and knowing smile. I felt the hairs on my arms raise, and realized that he looked _exactly_ the same as he did seven years ago. He continued to look at me for only a short moment longer, and then he took one more glance at me and sped off in the direction my dad had taken.

I felt the tears and the anguish burn through me. I wanted to just sit down and curl into a ball and cry, and cry, and cry. And think, too; what happened if that man did (and he probably will), catch my dad? I felt the knots of pain in my stomach tighten, and the only future for our family that I could see, with this recent turn of events, was a bleak one.

All I could feel was pain, external as well as internal. It seemed as though my internal turmoil than the excruciating external pain I felt. How was I going to fix this, how was this going to get better? I felt so alone and hopeless.

Snapping myself out of the sea of pain and misery I felt like I was drowning in, I realized that it wasn't helping anything. I knew what I had to do, and that didn't involve breaking down right here and giving into my hysteria. Actually, I knew the basic idea of what I had to do, but I had no clue where to even begin.

I've never thought of myself as a strong person, but with that monster speeding after the car that my dad was now driving, I had to swallow back all of the pain and weakness building inside of me, and run. I had to endure all of the pain that I was feeling right now, because it would never be as bad as what my dad would have to endure, if I didn't save him. I had to get him away from that man... but how on earth would I do that?

So I got up and grinded my teeth against the pain as I figured out in my head which way I would have to run to get to the Cullen's. Dad said that the Cullen's house was to the west. _Rises in the east, sets in the west, _I thought to myself, my mind a complete mess. The sun was about to set, so that meant that I would have to walk towards the sun.

I turned around, fighting the tears in my eyes as I found the sun. I hadn't realized it was so late, but the sun was now setting on the horizon. I felt a twinge of pain as I realized that only twenty four hours ago, I was with Demetri and that night had been so magical. It was the beginning of me being so happy, and now this. Now all of this had to come crashing down on me like a painful avalanche of misery.

With a final sense of resolve, and the little bit of motivation and strength I had left, I prepared myself for the pain that would follow my next actions. I ran, heading towards the sun, ignoring all of the increasing pain that it caused me. I had to find the Cullen's, and that was what was important. It was so painful that I had no idea how I managed it. It hurt with every step I'd make on my right leg. Tears ran down my face the whole way there, but a sound rarely escaped my throat. I had to endure the pain; I had to get through this.

I ran through the forest, stumbling over twigs and branches as it got increasingly darker here. The storm had not passed, and it was still soaking me from head to toe. It was also much darker outside, later than what I realized it was. I fell down a lot, sometimes into the muddy ground, sometimes into trees that caused me more pain that I eventually grew numb to in the cold, stormy fall air. My throat burned from the prolonged running, and I was breathing heavily.

I was determined to make it, no matter what damage I had to do to myself to get there. When I saw something that started out as just a small, dim light and grew clearer, larger and brighter, I felt the relief crash over me like a giant wave. I was there, after all of that painful running, and I just had a little more running to do. In a sudden burst of energy I ran faster to the house. It seemed like heaven right now, seeing it after everything that had happened.

I ran as fast as my tired, un-athletic and clumsy legs would carry me. I could almost see myself knocking on the door. I felt happy, yet my exhaustion was finally catching up with me. My vision was blurring, and I didn't know how long I would be able to stand on my own. There was still a ways to go, but I could see the house peeking out from behind trees, getting closer and closer. I fell on the ground; stumbling and picking myself back up again. I fell again, and picked myself up when the aloneness I felt was broken and I heard a voice. "Adalia?" asked the voice, sounding so distant but close at the same time.

I looked up at the voice and grinned, and then my eyes became heavy. "Oh, thank god…" I muttered, staring at Demetri. The moment he looked at me his eyes looked me over, panic, guilt and grim sadness crossing his face, as well as utter confusion. Edward was also there, and when he saw me, his expression was similar to Demetri's.

Before either of them could say anything, I felt myself collapse, and Demetri's strong arms caught me before I could land on the cold ground. He wrapped me into his arms and flew through the forest and to the house. Through my clouded vision that was drifting away, I saw everyone's eyes on me in panic and horror.

Soon, feeling tired I realized Demetri had laid me on a bed. I watched everything and everyone move quickly around me in a dream like fashion. Everything was so foggy, and I was beginning to see different bursts of color through my muddled vision.

"Oh, god, what happened?" said Esme as she saw me. The entire time I was out there, I never once looked down to see what my appearance was. I simply didn't even think about it. To others though, I could imagine that I probably looked completely awful, covered in mud and rain. I looked down at myself sleepily and was shocked at what I found.

Not only was I completely covered with mud everywhere, covering my skin and clothes, but I was also covered in blood, my clothes torn and variously sized gashes covering my skin everywhere. I gasped and looked up, only to find a mirror that sat against a wall directly across from me. I was abnormally pale, with dark circles under my eyes and my hair a complete and utter mess, sticking up in the wrong places and looking wind-swept. I looked like I had been out in a hurricane, with my messy hair and the wet appearance. I looked completely awful.

When Alice came in the room she gasped when she saw me, her hand flying to her mouth in horror. I couldn't help but let all of the tears that I had been choking back today fall freely, and I sobbed. Demetri and Alice were quickly by my side to comfort me. "Shhh," murmured Demetri has he cradled and rocked me in his arms, as I sobbed against his chest. Alice sat down by my side, whispering comforting words to me about how I would be alright, which only seemed to make the pain settle deeper because I didn't know how that would be possible.

Something about how they were there for me calmed me though, and I eventually stopped sobbing. Tears were still escaping though, and I felt cool hands that made my skin tingle under them wipe them away gently. I looked up into Demetri's deep, dark eyes that were filled with emotion as he looked back into mine. Our eyes seemed to communicate with each other, and I knew he could somehow be able to understand the pain that had just made its reappearance in my life.

Carlisle was in the room and broke our gaze when he began directing the room. I still felt dizzy and dream-like, and I wanted to just fall asleep. Colors were blotching in my vision and I felt myself dozing off. "No, you need to stay awake," said a voice that was surprisingly loud, breaking into my deepening state of quiet and unconsciousness. I opened my eyes with a start, coming back to reality and waking up all the way, even though I wanted so badly to just sleep, sleep, and sleep.

"We need to get her cleaned up, first" said Carlisle, checking me over. "There's too much dirt getting into her wounds right now." Everyone looked me over again, obviously focusing on how muddy and disgusting I was, and nodded. "I'll help her take a bath," Alice volunteered. "Good idea," said Carlisle.

Alice got up so that she was standing in front of me on the bed as she helped me get up. Slowly, Demetri let me go, and helped Alice pull me up by guiding my upper body, and when I hopped out of the bed, the sharp pain in my ankle was a shock. I let out a cry, and fell back down on the bed, nearly on top of Demetri as my ankle gave out. "Oh, yeah…" I muttered, the pain dying down, but still very much there.

Carlisle immediately came over to me to check out my ankle. I looked at it also, and was surprised to see how bloody awful it looked. It was heavily swollen and black and blue. "It looks like a Grade Two sprain…" he began after observing my ankle. He looked up to me, confusion crossing his face. "…This should be very painful to walk on, or to even apply any pressure upon. How did you get here?"

I shrugged innocently, trying to forget the pain and effort it took to get here with an injured ankle. "I ran," I told him, looking at all of the other questioning and shocked faces in the room. Everyone was staring at me like I gave birth to chickens, like they were seeing me in a new light for the first time. Like they underestimated me, and now just realized that they had.

"Didn't it hurt?" asked Jasper, staring at me with the same expression that everyone else wore. I flinched, thinking about the pain again, as everyone in the room took that as their answer. Before anyone could ask anything else, Demetri spoke for what seemed like the first time that night. "Maybe instead of questioning her right now we should concentrate on getting her better."

"He's right, and I still think we should get her cleaned up before we do anything about that ankle. Alice, can you help her quickly and without putting any further strain on her ankle?" asked Carlisle. Alice nodded, and helped me to the bathroom.

------------------

Alice helped bring me to the bath tub, and I sat down and washed the mud off of me. The whole time she had this guilty and saddened expression on her usually happy and cheerful face. I didn't know whether or not to ask her, but I never got the chance to anyway.

She gave me plenty of privacy, in case I was modest, and never actually looked directly at me. I used detangler that she handed me to get the knots out of my hair, and soon after I got in the bath tub, I was back in the room with a comfortable and luxuriously soft robe on. I felt good as new and squeaky clean, although I was still rather exhausted. Alice helped me to the bed without putting any pressure on my right foot, and I lay down on the bed.

As soon as I was on the bed, Demetri was putting ice against my swollen and bruised up ankle. Carlisle got to work on cleaning the scratches that covered me, putting band aids on the deepest ones. "Here's some medicine for the pain," said Esme, handing me some Tylenol in her hand and a glass of water.

"Thanks," I said, taking the pills from her and swallowing them with the water. "What is this, the third time that I've needed a doctor's attention while being here? " I joked. "I'm too accident prone." I wanted to try and lift the mood, although it didn't seem to work very well. Carlisle looked up into my playful eyes with a serious look in his own. "Are you sure that this was an accident?"

My joking smile fell as I realized that this really hadn't been an accident. No one said anything for a long time, until Carlisle was done with my scratches and began talking in his professional voice again. "Can I see her ankle?" he asked Demetri, and he lifted the ice away from my ankle to reveal it. "That looks like it's been on it long enough, it's been about twenty minutes." he said, and then turned to me after grabbing something off a little table in the room. "I have an ankle brace that I'm going to need you to wear, because since it wasn't immediately cared for, it's more damaged than most with this degree."

I didn't mention the fact that I didn't care about what happened to me, and I still don't, for that matter. I only care about making it so that my dad is okay again. I felt the tears coming back again, and quickly held them back. I didn't want to start balling right now; I still had to be strong. He gently pulled a white brace over my foot and strapped it on. Fortunately, it wasn't completely gaudy, but it still wasn't the most attractive thing ever.

"We'll have you use a crutch for the time being, as well. You'll need to use ice daily every few hours for 20 minutes, get lots of rest, and elevate your ankle often." I nodded, still fighting the urge to break down and cry. All of this was really becoming too much. They all stood there, before they finally decided to depart and let me sleep. After everyone was out of the room, Demetri was by my side. He kissed my cheek lovingly, and then kissed my forehead before whispering in my ear.

"Happy birthday," he told me. I turned to look at him shocked, not only that I didn't even remember that this was meant to be a party tonight, for my birthday, but also by the horrible turn of events that took place today. The urge to cry came back, and looking in Demetri's sad eyes didn't help anything. Slowly and sadly, he followed the rest of his family down stairs, leaving me in the lonely room. I couldn't hold them back anymore, and soon the tears were falling freely, and my mind was able to wander.

My dad was in trouble and the consequences of what had happened today could be deadly. It could very well be deadly for me too. But my dad said that the man wanted me, and that he was going to be the man's way of getting to me. But what did that mean? And why did the man want me? I suddenly felt a cold wave of guilt rush over me. My dad may be hurt because of me, because he was in my life. The tears poured harder at the very thought.

Suddenly, I realized that I couldn't sleep. There were too many things left unresolved tonight and I couldn't sleep with all of it running through my mind. I wiped at my eyes with the sleeve of my robe, half trying to cover the fact that I was crying, but then giving up. I jumped out of bed and hopped to the crutch that was left lying against the wall of the room. Without even trying to figure out what I was doing, or how I was going to walk with the crutch, I began wobbling with it down the hall way and the grand stair case to the living room.

While I walked down, I noticed birthday decorations all over the house -- streamers, a 'Happy Birthday' sign; the whole thing. I felt a pain in my stomach again at the disaster my birthday had turned out to be. Today we were supposed to have a little birthday party with just the Cullen's and my dad and I present. When I got there it was meant to be a nice day, but instead I had to arrive scared to death, shaken up, muddy and ripped up inside and out. I felt bad that all of their preparations were useless at this point.

I opened the door to find everyone sitting and in deep conversation, and all of their serious faces turned to me, becoming shocked. "I thought you were going to sleep?" asked Renesmee. I looked at her, my face expressionless as I once again fought the emotions building inside of me. My eyes still felt wet under them, and the fact that I was crying was still probably very obvious. "I can't," I stated, meeting everyone's gaze slowly.

Slowly and awkwardly, they worked their way and asked the question I knew they were all dying to ask since I got here. "What happened to you out there?" asked Bella, who was being held by Edward around the waist closely. I felt my mask dissolve and the emotions were no longer able to be contained. I paced around nervously, all of the emotions flooding me. I was scared, hopeless, embarrassed, guilty, nervous, completely sad and resented that all of this had to happen on my birthday, of all days, when everything was going perfectly. "I don't know!" I exploded, the hopelessness in my voice also shaky. I felt shaky too, and I realized that I really was shaking. I continued pacing, feeling that it would preoccupy my body if I were to move around.

The beginning, I would have to start from the beginning, but I had no idea how I'd work up the courage. "You'll all think I'm crazy," I said, pacing and biting my nails for the first time in my life. "I even think it's crazy. God knows half the school thinks I'm crazy." I realized that I probably sounded just as crazy as I was talking about myself being. I stopped, turned and met all of their eyes, pausing on Demetri's. "I wouldn't be able to stand it if you all thought I was crazy, too."

They all exchanged glances and I continued pacing like a crazy person. "We won't think you're crazy, Adalia," said Bella gently and genuinely. "You'd be surprised by how much we could handle." I stared at each of them for a while, making up my decision. No matter how much I wanted not to take the chance, I knew that I had to tell them. Hell, I even told Demetri yesterday that I'd tell him. Dad said earlier that day that if anyone would be able to help, it would be them, so I had to tell them.

"When I was ten years old, my family and I, minus my dad, went on a camping trip. In the middle of the night all chaos had broken loose. I don't even know what happened, but I have my guesses. Long story short, something… someone, killed my sister, my brother and my mother right in front of me." I said in a rush, avoiding the vampire details, the tears burning in my eyes.

They all took a second to think about that, grim understanding crossing their beautiful faces. "How were they killed?" asked Rosalie, speaking the first words she's ever spoken to me. I turned to stare at her, she had her hands fisted tightly, and she was extremely pale, even for her. I quickly turned away and bit my lip, attempting and failing at keeping the fresh tears that were forming at bay. "Adalia?" she asked, trying to get me to speak.

Without looking at them, I spoke. "That's the crazy part. I… I," I began, feeling the tears completely spill over. "It was the most horrible thing I've ever seen." I said, not making any eye contact with any of them, my voice just above a whisper. "This... this man, he was in the forest. There was a storm that seemed to follow him, just making the whole scene even more sinister. When I found my sister after running towards the place I heard her scream, I found her…" I cringed.

The memory was coming back way too vividly now, and it hurt to remember, let alone talk about it. I felt like I was there again, and it was completely painful. "I found her lying on the ground, in a broken up heap of blood. She was so little and innocent, and seeing her there, so… so lifeless, I didn't know what to do. Then I saw my mom in that same clearing -- talking to my older brother."

The whole story was playing out in my head as I spoke. "She convinced him to run away, and then he came; the man that has haunted me and my dreams, ever since that night. She made him mad by saying something, and then --" I began, cutting off as I remembered what he did. My grip on the crutch tightened, and I squeezed my eyes lids shut just as tightly. "He attacked her. He bent down to her neck and…" I started, but couldn't finish the sentence.

"And he bit her," stated Demetri in a cold and hateful tone. I opened my eyes to look at him, and I saw a look of pure hatred and grim understanding on his beautiful face. I nodded, "yes..." I said quietly, surprised that he had known so easily. In the back of my mind I knew that he already knew very well about what it was I was talking about and more. I didn't want to believe that though, so I, once again, ignored my intuition on the subject.

"All I remember after that is that I was with my brother when he came for us, and that I passed out and woke up the next day in the forest when my dad was sending a search party for us. I was the only one who survived." I told them, fresh tears filling my eyes again.

Everyone's faces reflected Demetri's, hate filling their eyes, as well as sadness, for me, and sympathy. "I'm so sorry, Adalia." Said Esme, and then I remembered what had happened today. Tears filling my eyes, I told them what had happened today too. "That isn't all, that's only what happened seven years ago, but not what happened today." I met their eyes, and saw they all seemed to realize this too. Renesmee squeezed her eyes shut as it was painful for her to realize what that meant.

My voice was still shaky and uncontrolled, as I finished the story. "I should have seen it coming, or maybe I did, but I didn't want to think about it. That night he told me and my brother that 'neither of us would escape him in the end.' I didn't want to believe or think about that though, but it seemed like every night mare I had about him had been connected with that promise. Today…" I paused, my voice getting shakier as I continued. "Today when my dad and I were driving here, he was there."

I was shaking completely again, the truth of what happened and the idea finally settling in, making me frantic and scared to death. "He was there! He tailed us, and we got far enough away eventually, but my dad said he was just playing a game with us, that he was giving us a head start and that we needed to split up. He said that the man wanted me, and that was why I had to run; so it would buy me some time. My dad told me to come here, because he knew that if anyone could help me, it would be you all. I had no idea what he was talking about, and I didn't want to leave him, but he told me I had to and I didn't know what to do."

I was shaking my head, feeling guilty for leaving him there, and sobbing freely now. Esme walked up to me and held me in her caring arms comforting me like the mother she reminded me of, and I cried on her shoulder, the pain tearing me apart. The pain and knots in my stomach came back more painfully than it had before. I felt myself being carried to the couch, and after it felt like I'd cried the last of my tears, I looked up at all of them. They were all standing up now, looking at me with determined expressions.

"I guess you know why I looked the way I did, when I got here, and why I had a sprained ankle, and Jasper, you were right; it hurt more than you could imagine it would have, running for so long and trying to ignore the pain. But I didn't care what damage I did to myself, and I still don't." I looked up into all their surprised faces, staring at me like they had before. They were staring at me like they underestimated me. It made me feel stronger than I thought I was, and suddenly all of my sadness turned to anger. "And now, _Dracula_ is after me for some reason, and he's using my dad to get to me."

I gritted my teeth in anger, balling my fists even though they were tiny and harmless, "I need to help him, and he can't be hurt because of me. He's not going to be killed like the rest of my family. I'd rather die than see that happen." The tears and anger burned in my eyes, and they all stared at me, exchanging glances with each other. "I think it's time you told her," Emmett told Demetri, a serious expression on his face. Whatever it was he was talking about, it must have been pretty serious for even the playful Emmett to be taking it seriously.

"Told me what?" I asked, staring at them. They didn't reply, but only continued to exchange glances with each other. I groaned, and turned away. "When y'all do that it really makes me wish I could read minds." I was surprised to hear a little laugh, and turned to see everyone stifling smirks. "What?" I asked, but they just kept exchanging glances. Eventually, Demetri nodded at them and looked at me. I was so confused and the anger hadn't worn off completely, I hated feeling lost like this.

"Adalia, remember when I told you that I'd tell you everything today? Well I still have to do that, but I don't think it's a truth that you'll very much like," his eyes were filled with pain and resentment for some unspoken truth, as he looked at me. Without speaking, I followed him when he led me upstairs, awaiting the horrible truth that he was going to tell me.

Part of me already knew what that would be. The rest of me was hoping with all I had, that I was wrong, and just jumping to wild conclusions. The good news though, was that they didn't think I was crazy. It made me feel like I had been paranoid all along and that I should have just trusted them from the beginning with my secret.

* * *

I hope you liked this chapter and I hope you will review it and let me know what you thought! =)

Okay so I'll definitely get to Demetri's storyin the next chapter, with out a doubt. Anyway, I'm sorry that I forgot to post a link to show the visual for Adalia's birthday dress on my profile. The one on it right now is one that I was thinking about using, but decided against it and used another one. I'll put that up hopefully tonight, but if not keep checking back to see what it looked like if you want to. It's from urban outfitters. =)

PS. If you didn't review for my birthday, you can always do it as a late birthday 'present', if you want. hehe. *wink wink*  
I'm really prolonging by birthday a lot, so sorry, haha. I even told mi madre y padre that it was my 'birthday week' all week. My birthday was on Monday, April 6th, and fortunately it didn't turn out as disastrous as Adalia's 17 birthday.


	16. Revealment

**Adalia**  
by: Madina Lake

She wraps her tragic moments tightly around her neck  
Then she hangs herself with them as I try to disconnect  
'Cause she wants to choke on her life again  
Breathing it in like a deadly poison.

She cries cause she's lost and she doesn't even know what she wants  
And her eyes grow cold and she begs the world to just let her go

(But I won't let go)

**She lives and breathes in a world that brought her to her knees  
And now I'm addicted to her 'cause that girl is just like me  
**  
And I'm gonna choke on her life again  
Breathing it in like a deadly poison.  
I just wanna get through to her,  
Before her last breath.

She cries 'cause she's lost and she doesn't even know what she wants  
And her eyes grow cold and she begs the world to just let her go

She cries 'cause she's lost and she doesn't even know what she wants  
And she hides all alone inside the pain that she wont let go  
Watching her life pass her by, watching it all through her watering eyes  
But I'll be chasing dragonflies from her darkest skies until the day she dies.

* * *

Demetri helped me lay down on the bed gently, and we were both completely quiet as he looked around the room, tapping his fingers as his mind was a million miles away. I watched him patiently, awaiting the upcoming confession he was about to make. I had always wanted to know, but for some reason I was incredibly nervous about the whole idea right now. However, I was so glad that I would finally get to know Demetri that much better.

Eventually, he looked up to me and barely broke the silence by speaking in a low voice. "I should probably start from the beginning, all though it's probably not going to make any sense. It will seem even crazier to you than your own story. Please believe me when I tell you though, because I promise that it's not just a story, it's completely true. Please trust me. And even more than that, please don't hate me…" he told me, his eyes filled with the genuine truth that begged and willed for me to believe in an intensity that almost scared me.

"What's this all about, Demetri?" I asked, studying him. He met my eyes and held both of my hands in his tenderly, willing me to focus on him, his eyes pleading me to understand. "Please understand, it's all real. Tell me that you won't think that_ I'm_ crazy this time. I didn't accuse you of being crazy, and I completely believe your story. It's your turn to do the same for me. You trust me, right?" "Yes," I answered without hesitation. "I'll believe you, Demetri, just let me understand..." I told him, squeezing his hands tighter in mine. He met my eyes steadily and then looked away, his eyes refocusing on something distant and long ago. After a moment of hesitation and his focus on whatever was troubling him, he finally looked at me again, the truth burning in his eyes as he told me. "I was born in the late eighteenth century in Spain."

I felt my jaw drop suddenly as the information didn't sink in completely. His eyes were fixed on mine steadily, measuring my reaction. What he told me only passed through one of my ears and out the other. It was simply too unbelievable of a concept to let it sink in or understand it. I blinked hard a few times quickly, shaking my head. "I'm sorry, can you repeat that? I must have misunderstood you..." I asked, convincing myself that it must have been a mistake and a product of my over active imagination that told me he was from Regency times. His expression unchanged, his gaze reached deep into the depths of my soul, the pool of darkness pulling me in. I felt like I could fall forever in those eyes...

"Adalia, my love, you heard me right…" he told me. All I could do was stare aimlessly in disbelief, the thought too foreign to really understand still. After an intense moment of staring at each other, I slowly began to come back to reality and shake my head. "What are you talking about, Demetri? How could that even be possible?" His eyes grew sad, but he quickly got a hold on his steady and controlled gaze. "I'll explain, but I think it's best to start from the very beginning, that way you will understand." I shook my head a little more, refocusing my eyes on him and looking at him differently than I had before. He was so much more than what he appears to be. Then I looked at him, slowly transitioning from shaking my head, to nodding, willing him to continue with the story he was about to tell me. "Go on, tell me, Demetri." I told him. After a few moments more of hesitation, he finally continued.

"Times were…" he began, and then paused to think of a word and let out a little laugh. "Times were very different back then. I grew up in the early nineteenth century, and I can honestly say today it is a completely different world than it was back then…" I didn't say anything, but all I could think of was that the "back then" he was referring to living in was over two hundred years ago. It was so bizarre to think about, yet it made so much sense. He always was a gentleman and different from other guys these days. Maybe that was because he wasn't from "these days" at all. But I just couldn't get over the fact that he looked like was only about 17 or 18, but in reality he was really over two hundred years old.

"My full name was Demetrio Medina. I grew up with my mother, father, sisters and brothers in Spain. All of my siblings were older than I was and went out on their own when I was still young. My mother was wonderful, and I loved her very much. Most of the time, when you think of a mother and a father, you may think of love and kindness. The father being good to the mother, good to his _wife_. That's the way it should be, but this wasn't what it was like for my parents. My mother was all of those things: a loving, kind wife, but my father, on the other hand, was not. Not even in the slightest..."

The sad and burdened tone of his voice made me forget how unbelievable the time period, that his story took place in, even was. I frowned at him sympathetically, staring at him and trying to figure him out. I felt myself being more and more captivated by his story, finally starting to figure out the mystery that was his life. "What do you mean?" I heard myself ask him. He met my eyes once more again, the pain in them seeming to spill out of them in his deep dark, emotional filled eyes.

"My father... he was cruel to my mother. Anything and everything she did set him off, and he would take it out on her... _physically._" I automatically cringed as I realized what he was saying, and he squeezed his eye lids shut tightly. "He did so all the time, everyday, multiple times." He said, and his fist began to ball up as if he was remembering the situations as if it were in full detail. "My father hated her, but he wouldn't let her out of his sight. You see, she was like a trophy wife to him; the beautiful woman that everyone admired. Everyone thought they were a happy, wonderful couple from the outside, but they didn't see how he treated her behind closed doors. He was of a wealthy family, so we lived rather well. We even had servants who cleaned the house. But he was very controlling and horrible to my mother, even though everyone who met her loved her." He said with a look of hatred developing on his face. "She was polite and loving to everyone she met, and everyone was extremely fond of her. She was the mother anyone would want.

When he'd beat her for whatever he thought she did 'wrong', he was usually drunk. I spent my whole life up until I was twelve years old watching him beat her every night. As a child, all I could do was sit there and watch, too weak to do anything to help her, " he scoffed, unhappy and guilty about that fact. "My father knew that, too, so sometimes he would deliberately start things with me, saying that I needed to be 'a man'.

I think my mom wanted us to leave him, but in those times a woman could rarely find work and make a living for themselves. The man of the house was the head of the family, while the wife had literally no power. It was actually legal until 1879 for men to beat their wives, so the law wasn't on her side like it is these days. However, the law didn't make it right; my mother taught me that and made sure that I knew it well. She was scared, if we did run away and he found us, it would end very badly. She was scared, indeed, but she was an opinionated and head strong woman who was very brave.

One day, when I was twelve, my mother fought back that time. She caught my father off guard and knocked him unconscious. She took that opportunity to get me and make a run for it, as far away from him as possible. We didn't know where we were going or how we would make a living. We took a few items with us that we needed, and fled quickly to Italy. There we met good people who let us stay with them in their bakery as long as we helped them with their business. We stayed there in the small town until I was eighteen years old. I was always afraid that he'd come to find us, and I'd always almost expected it to happen. So I prepared for years, building up my strength so that one day, if he came, I'd be ready for him. I wouldn't be that weak little boy who wasn't strong enough to do anything about him. And I did become stronger; I was completely ready for him if he made his appearance. But, life was better for both my mother and I. We were finally more optimistic and happy. Things were looking up for us; we had finally escaped my horrible father and could live apart from him.

That is, until one day everything changed for the worst. I still remember that day; it was like the calm before the storm. Everything was going wonderful, it was a beautiful day all day long, the sky sunny and the people friendly and loving. Then later at night, a storm arose. My mother and I didn't think anything of it, just another storm. But I think that we both felt the underlying danger that the storm seemed to cause in the typically care free atmosphere of the town. I remember it like it was yesterday, and I ignored my intuition and helped the bakery owners with their shop while they were gone. Then suddenly I knew something had gone wrong; I could just feel it. I tried to find my mother, when I saw he was there—my father. He was pushing my mother around like he had years before, except this time, he had far more… strength than he had before. My mother fell to the ground, her sobs and cries filling the room. I froze for a short moment, shocked by the fact that he found us, until I finally came back to reality and let my emotions and passionate hate for him control my actions.

He pushed her down again, facing away from me as I ran and slammed into him with as much force as I possibly could. He fumbled shortly, but quickly regained his balance. When I ran into him, I remember that he was harder than rock, and freezing cold. He was much stronger than he was before. Had he been as strong as he once had, I would have had enough strength at the age I was to completely knock him to the ground. But he was too strong, he was _inhumanly_ strong. It caught me off guard, and as he turned toward me, glaring, I saw the red in his eyes that made my heart skip a beat, in pure shock, at the unnatural and horrific color that pierced into me. I didn't even realize what was happening when he swung his arm into me, launching me clear across the room with more force than any human could produce. I crashed into the side of the house, falling into other things, as I was clutching at my side that felt like it had been slammed into with bricks, but was actually my father's arm. I heard my mother scream again, and saw that she was screaming for me; sobbing about how he pushed me across the room like that. My father gave her a dirty look, as she scrambled to her feet and attempted with every ounce of strength she had left to fight him back. She swung at him, but within seconds he was on the other side of her, leaving her wondering where he had gone, and leaving me breathless and confused.

Before she could turn around, he pushed her back to the ground, and had his hands around her throat. He looked at her with this look of pure hatred and victory as she stared at him, choking for air as he strangled her. At that moment, I got back up again, desperately trying to save my mother from this monster that was once my father. He was horrible and cruel before, but this man —this _creature_ was not the same, it was sadistic and evil. I stumbled over to him, ignoring the pain from slamming into the wall. When I got there, he was... biting her neck. I tried pushing him off of her, but he just turned slowly toward me, glared at me like he did before, the animal inside of him showing through his blood red eyes. By now I realized my mother was no longer moving, with blood all over her and punctures in her neck. When I realized that she was dead, I was hysterical." He said, as his hand tightened around mine, I could feel his pain. I could actually understand quite well how he felt; after all I had gone through almost exactly the same thing. However, his story was much worse.

"I was strong at eighteen, but not as strong as him." He continued. "I started punching him and anything I could; yelling at him at how he had killed her, crying. It had no affect on him —what he had done or the punches I was throwing at him. He just gave me a disgusted look and threw me onto the ground as if I weighed nothing. 'You know, son,' he said with a sneer, 'your problem is you need to man up. You're too weak.' I just stared at him, returning the resentment. 'She was your wife—my _mother_. 'I told him. He just shrugged it off, like it was nothing, like she was of no value and I shouldn't care either. 'What is wrong with you?' I said. He laughed in reply, 'You mean what is right, and well I can show you. And make you more of a man like you need to be, son' he grinned, before he bent down, and bit my neck, the same way he did my mother, before I even had the reflexes to stop him… "

I felt my heart sink, I knew what kind of a creature he was talking about, and have always worried that the one who killed my mother would come back and bite me, the way he did to her. But now, hearing that Demetri, of all people, had also been bitten, but lived to tell about it, shocked me beyond belief. Or did it…? Now, Demetri looked up to me to see what my reaction was. "Bu... but how? Demetri, how could you still be alive? Not only was that 200 years ago, but you were _bitten _by him, how did that not kill you like the others?" I asked, but I wasn't so sure I needed to ask to know. His eyes darkened, as he looked straight into my eyes with a sort of regret and intensity that made my heart beat stutter. "I'm not, not in theory. The reason why I still _exist_ is because he didn't finish the job. The bite, the vampire bite, _changed_ me."

I just stared at him, all of my intuition and previous paranoia's proving to have been correct all along. I felt my jaw drop, and I couldn't breathe. When I could finally speak, I stuttered out, "no… no, no, no. Oh no." I didn't know whether to be angry and hate him for being the same thing that had destroyed my family, or calm down because I knew it all along or try to understand his point of view. "You can't be…" I stated, close to tears, shaking my head and holding my head in my hands. "You're… you're a…" "Vampire." He finished for me, his voice regretful and filled with a self loathing tone.

I opened my mouth to speak, but I didn't know what to say and even if I did, I wouldn't know where to begin. I began pacing the room, trying to make sense of it all. After a few moments of pacing, him watching me with that depressing look on his face, that used to make me want to get to the bottom of his terrible and horrifying problems, I stopped. Quietly, I said, "Can I just be alone for a while? I need to think… alone…" Somehow, as unbelievable as it might sound, he seemed to have frowned even more. He just nodded politely, and I watched as he walked out the door; the boy that I loved with all my heart. I didn't want to believe that he, so loving and wonderful to me, could be of the same species that killed my family so long ago, and is after what's left of it, as I speak. How could that be? He was nothing like that man. Well, I suppose there were some similarities, but none in his personality. None that I could see from the surface, that is.

I could feel the tears that were building up, begin to fall freely, as I let my thoughts wander. And then I realized something else, the rest of the Cullen's… they were vampires also. "Oh god," I said to myself, sobbing into the air. This was turning into such a catastrophe. I thought about it long and longer, hours going by, as I calmed down and was able to think clearly. That was when I realized something else. Demetri, and the rest of the family, vampires or not, were _good_. They were nothing like the man who killed my family or even Demetri's father who killed his own wife. If I turned my back on them, what kind of a person would that make me? I swore to myself, and to him, that I loved him, and I love his family. He is my boyfriend, and they are my best friends. They're _family_ to me. I have to be a strong, loyal and a good person, and not let their shortcomings make me run away. They aren't perfect, no one is. It's like people not giving me a chance and running away from me when they hear those rumors that I'm crazy. The Cullen's didn't run away from me, and I shouldn't run away from them.

And those rumors--- I know now that I'm not crazy after all. Vampires do, indeed, exist. I realized that I needed to tell Demetri I wouldn't hate him for this, that I still loved him and was there for him. I got up and walked to the door to open it and walked outside the door to find Demetri sitting down the hallway on the floor with his head in his hands. I walked over to him and sat down on the floor in front of him. I whispered, "I love you." He lifted his head up higher to see me; his sad face looked surprised and still just as regretful. "You don't hate me?" he asked. I smiled to cover up my frown, "Of course I don't hate you… I'm sorry. It's just a really big shock…" I said, drifting off. "And I'm so sorry about what happened to you, losing your mom like that must have been horrible. You know I lost my mom in a similar way, but how you lost yours was much worse." He frowned, "It's alright, Adalia, it happened very long ago."

"But that still doesn't make it hurt any less…" I told him. He gave a sad smile and looked at me, changing the subject. "I thought for sure that my telling you that would make you hate me and run away…" I looked him straight in the eye, "Well I'm not going to. You're not a bad person." He laughed quietly, but mockingly at me, "I'm a _vampire_, Adalia, surely that constitutes to something _bad_." I shook my head, "no, I've been with you and your family long enough to know that you're not. If you were, I could easily not be alive right now. Actually, I wouldn't be. You and your family saved my life plenty of times by now, don't you recall? If you were bad, then you wouldn't have bothered or you would have killed me yourself. It seems that every other vampire outside of this family would have chosen that path of action. " Demetri didn't reply; he just seemed to stare at the floor and think about what I said.

"So, now that we've established this, do you think you could finish that story?" I told him quietly. He looked back up to me, realizing he hadn't finished. "You were at the part where he um… bit you, what happened after that? How exactly did this _change_ take place? You gotta give me some answers." He frowned a little bit, "You want to know how you change into a vampire? It's not that nice of a process…" he started. "Tell me." I told him, reassuring him that I wanted to know.

He put his hand on his face, "I really don't I think I should be telling you this, but I will anyway, I think you deserve to know. When you are bitten by a vampire, they inject venom into your veins. So let's say, for example, a vampire was hunting you, and they began to drink from you, but for some reason they couldn't finish until you died from blood loss and they left you there instead. Then, the venom spreads, changing you. But the change is very painful, and it lasts for a grand total of three days. Three days of agonizing pain, which makes you feel like you're on fire the entire time. Being on fire, that's a pain almost worse than any other physical pain, but the venom pain lasts much longer than it would have had it literally been fire. Three days, on fire. It's a wonder how anyone can even endure it."

I cringed, "that sounds awful…" I said. "It _is_ awful," replied Demetri. I cringed more, imagining the horrific pain that he must have gone through. Three days, that must have seemed like an eternity. "Okay so three days feelings like you're on fire… and then what?" I asked. His expression darkened, "All of the pain ends with a grand finale, and finally, you're heart beat stops forever." This shocked me, I'm usually a firm believer in science, and according to science one cannot live without their heart beating. When it stops, that signifies the end of your life. "What… how is that possible? How can your heart not be beating and still be alive?" I asked in a fluster, throwing myself onto his chest to try and listen for a heart beat frantically. I didn't hear one.

I slowly pulled away, and Demetri looked me in the eyes again. "Like I said, I'm not alive – not in theory. In other words, the better word for my life is that I exist, but I'm not alive." I shook my head, "what are you saying?" "I am saying that, vampires are more or less… undead. That's why we have no heart beat, and we produce no body heat. We survive solely on the life source of other living beings, and I bet you can guess what that source is."

"Blood." I said, as if I were on auto pilot to answer his question. "Yes, blood." I got the chills at the word blood, with images of the vampire so long ago sucking the life from my mother and the blood that covered my little sister in the crumpled heap. I shook the images out of my mind; I needed to get back on track. "And then what happened?" I asked. His mind got back on track, also. "Well, then I woke up. Except when I woke up, I felt so different… so inhuman. I didn't know what exactly was going on, but I knew I wasn't normal. I had spent three days in the same spot, with that infamous agonizing pain."

"I woke up feeling like I was running on empty, my throat felt dry like I needed something to satisfy my thirst… but it wasn't for a drink of water or something of those sorts. It was for something foreign and new to me, but I felt like I needed it. I got up and felt this sudden presence of power that I had never had previously, and it felt exhilarating. Then I focused in on my surroundings. It was night outside. I was in the back of the bakery, and I found the nice bakery owner lying on the ground as if something had attacked her. Before, I would have felt repulsed and very saddened by the loss, but I felt strangely attracted to the scent….the scent of the blood. And that's when I also noticed my mother, laying there the same way she was left there. And then I remembered everything.

"I remembered my father, and how he had killed my mother. How he had inhuman strength, glaring and demonic red eyes, stone hard skin, and above all else: blood lust. And I also remembered how he had bit me, and the burning pains that I had endured for three days. Remembering all this, the thirst was no longer important to me and was replaced by my anger, and my pure hatred toward my father. I looked around, noticing how my father was nowhere to be seen, so I decided to leave. However, I realized that I couldn't leave my mother's dead body on the ground, so I picked her body up to try and find a better and more fitting way to bury her body and leave her to rest in peace.

"As I picked her up at first, it was a shock how light she was and how easily I picked her up. She didn't weigh that much, because she was a small woman, but picking her up I felt as if I were carrying a rag doll. She was so lifeless, so fragile in my arms when I carried her. I felt as if I would cry, but when it came to the point that the tears would have probably fallen by, they wouldn't come. It was very odd, and I knew something was not right with me but I didn't even think much about it. Not until I passed by a window with a reflection in the cold night, and I was able to see what I looked like. I looked almost like a completely different person. My face looked much paler, with dark circles under my eyes. And most prominent of all, my eyes were blood red, and no longer brown. They were now the color of my dad's eyes as the monster he now was. That's when I realized I had become what he was: a blood thirsty monster."

The self loathing expression continued. I frowned, but he went on. "I brought my mother where she could have a proper burial, and then I ran. I lived in England for many years as a nomad, but I always felt horrible and monstrous for feeling attracted to human blood and living off of it. I came across a deer once, and somehow I knew that I could feed off of it rather than humans. I've been feeding off of animals ever since then. It is not at all the normal diet for a vampire, as about 95% of them feed off of humans. But I, and also the rest of my family, live what we'd like to call vegetarian lifestyles. We only feed off of animals, never humans."

"Really…?" I asked as I thought about the concept, "that's good, because then that could complicate things drastically…" I said. He laughed, "Yes, it would complicate things, even more than our relationship already is complicated." We both thought about that for a moment, and then he continued. "But even though we don't feed off of humans, being able to stay in control of our blood lust for them isn't any easier. Animal blood keeps us strong but it doesn't keep us satisfied. But we still make that sacrifice everyday because we, well, don't want to be monsters. We're trying to make our existence as vampires work for us to make us as close to human as we can. We have to control ourselves every time we are around humans so that we don't give in to temptation and bloodlust. It's much harder than it sounds, but we learn overtime to control ourselves more and more."

"Do you have trouble…?" I gulped at my sudden thought, "controlling yourself around _me_?" I asked. He frowned but looked at me with a puzzled expression that seemed as though he's been puzzled over that subject for some time now. "No, I actually don't, and that's what's odd. You see, the scent of blood is what causes the temptations, but with you, I can't smell your blood, not at all. Instead, the only scent I smell in replace of your blood is the scent of roses…"

_to be continued..._

* * *

I've finally finished the next chapter! It's been so long, and I really apologize for the delay over these past few months. I've just been really caught up with one very great relationship and summer. But I am back, and I'm going to continue writing as much as possible!

I hope you liked this chapter; I've spent a lot of time on it. Please let me know what your opinions on this new chapter are since I've been gone, I'd really appreciate it. =)

Make sure to check out the song **Adalia** by Madina Lake. If you haven't guessed already, I got the name for Adalia from the title. I liked the name so much I wanted to use it. Ha-ha. Madina Lake is one of my favorite bands, they are amazing, and a big inspiration to me. The twins in the band, Nathan and Matthew, were contestants on the show Twin Fear Factor awhile back. They were the skinniest boys there, but luck would have it that they won all but one challenge (and let me tell you, the gross challenge was by far the worst I've seen on the series) and used their winnings toward the band!

I saw an acoustic show they did, and they were really funny guys. They are all also very talented. I almost met them, but unfortunately they had to leave before I got the chance. But I WILL meet them one day. =)

Be sure to check them out if you haven't heard of them.

Have a great time the rest of your summer!

Adios Amigos,  
Jenna


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